Fans aren't Slans!
Oct. 19th, 2005 09:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bnewmanOkay, 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.
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.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-20 03:53 pm (UTC)[checks Wikipedia]
oh.
very much not that.
i think yours is significantly more obscure, but, since i didn't know about it until you mentioned it, my intuitions here aren't worth much. in any case, i think the ‘exploiting them for ideas’ line makes a lot more sense in the cubicle context.
unless there's some kind of ‘kinky geek farm’ meme, that is. and there probably is one. [shrugs.]