Re: KV, Humans, and Political Divisions

Read Foreigner, by C.J. Cherryh, you'd probably like it. Definately not
your
typical aliens. And definately not one large group. The whole story is
about
the first contact between humans and a radically different culture. In
deed,
the differences are very subtle, but cause huge problems when human
beings
started to apply human feelings and emotions to a culture that lacks
them.

Jade Tseng

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Bilderback" <bbilderback@hotmail.com>
To: <gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2000 12:57 AM
Subject: KV, Humans, and Political Divisions

> I was doing some pondering (as I am wont to do), and I started
wondering
> something.  I've noticed a trend in SCience Fiction, and especially
amongst
> Sci Fi games, that I'd like to address, and I'm going to use the
> Tuffleyverse, and what little I know about it, as an example.
>
> So let me get this straight: There are, amongst others, these powers:
The
> FSE (Human), the NAC (Human), the ESU (Human), the PAU (human), etc.,
and
> there are the KV (KV)... Hmmm....
>
> What I've noticed is that most "Alien" races in Sci Fi are presented
as
one
> homogenous group.  The discussion of KV phsychology has been
interesting,
> but I wonder, would KV analyses of Human Psycchology be as easily
> undertaken? Imagine taking specimens from one single culture here on
earth,
> and trying to form your opinion of the entire species from that.  To
be
> sure, there is a great deal that all humans share in common, but there
is
> also a huge amount of diversity.  Yet with the KV, and other aliens
(to be
> fair), their entire species has one culture?
>
>
> It seems to be the major trend in xenofiction - regardless of the
Human
> timeline presented, whether we've united or split further, no matter
how
far
> we've journeyed into space or no, despite the multitude of cultures,
(Say,
> for instance, a ship's crew with a Slavic helmsman, an Asian con
officer,
an
> African communications officer, a Celtic physician and Engineer, and
an
> American captain... ok, so maybe that's a little exaggerated, but you
get
my
> point), the aliens are always presented as having one culture and
society
> for their entire race, even if there are diverse political factions or
> classes within that culture.
>
> Why? I know the old arguement of a unified culture advancing faster,
but
> let's look at it from another point of view.	A lot of the KV
psychology
> that's been discussed was a result of evolution, of methods developed
for
> dealing with the predators back home.  OK, but what happens when
you've
> evolved far enough to not have to worry about ol' mr. T-rex, or the
solar
> storms, or what have you? Why evolve any further? You've found your
niche
in
> your environment.  The answer can't be individual competition alone -
there
> are plenty of species on earth where individual members compete with
other
> individual members, yet they have not built space ships yet (That we
KNOW
> of....).  And in a sentient race, you could expect competition
instincts
> between INDIVIDUAL members to be resolved by ritualistic competition,
trials
> of position and duels and such.
>
> OK, so maybe these individual competitions, plus the social aspect of
a
> species, leads to the tendency to develop alliances, to support other
> individuals with the same genetic lineage, or with whom you have
social
> affinity.
>
> This just supports my point - that these points to trends like
clannishness,
> tribalism, eventually ethnicism and nationalism.  The tendency to not
only
> compete individually, but to also group together in social groups that
then
> compete with each other, is what drives development.
>
> In short (I know, too late), once you've conquered your environment,
and
> other competing species, you have no need to evolve further unless
there
is
> competition to compete with other members of your OWN species.  Hence
the
> fact that the most advanced species on earth is also the most diverse
and
> factionalized.
>
> So why don't we ever, in our fiction, meet other species with the same
> tendencies? I'd love to see a scifiverse where humans meet another
race
> whose home planet has as many different ethnicities and political
divisions
> as does Earth.
>
>
> Brian B
>
>
>
>
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