Fans aren't Slans!

[bnewman]

Okay, we knew that already. But why?

For those who are confused, Slans are superintelligent, telepathic mutants from the science fiction novel Slan by A. E. van Vogt. Once upon a time, there was a "Fans are Slans" meme in fandom. This meme was subsequently rounded up and defanged on account of being chauvinistic.

But really, it's just wrong. Fans are superintelligent, alright — we're just not telepathic. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that mundanes are telepathic. Who exactly has trouble parsing social signals?

So now I want a science fiction novel about a culture with two races, of which one is superintelligent and the other is telepathic.

Comments

[sammka.livejournal.com]

That science fiction novel would totally be favorably reviewed by Simon Baron-Cohen, backer of the "some people (mostly men) systematize and are good at math, and some people (mostly women) empathize and... aren't good at math." Aside from the gender essentialism and lack of really good empirical backing, it's a cool concept.

[q10.livejournal.com]

weren't you at one point or another telling me that there's a disease that's sort of like inverse autism - incredible social empathy covering for cognitive limits in other areas, or something like that?

[sammka.livejournal.com]

Most likely, I was making fun of the idea that, despite the fact that such phenomena are rarely observed, it has to exist to the same extent that autism does. Baron-Cohen believes it, though!

But there's also Williams Syndrome, a rare disease that mainly affects connective tissue but also causes serious cognitive defects, but leaving social abilities intact. They in particular have horrid spacial abilities.

But if you read the wikipedia entry, you realize that people who have this disease are kind of mythical-sounding and in fact would make a really great race in Ben's novel.

[q10.livejournal.com]

yeah, that Williams thing is the one i was remembering.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

The thing is, it's sort of like inverse autism, but only if you just look at certain axes. Sort of like how, I dunno, calcifying connective tissue disorders are the opposite of osteoporosis.

[q10.livejournal.com]

i tried to frame the original question in a way that singled out those axes.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

I'm not whining about your question. I'm just trying to make it clear to other readers.