Originally Posted by roguebfl (Post 2103201)

Anne McCaffrey's "To Ride Pegasus" [Followed by "Pegasus in Flight" "Get off Unicorn" and "Pegasus in Space" collectively know as her Talents Series] cover the Societal arch from Psi first being Verifiable Documented, and the Journey to go from prejudice to just one more accented minority in security.

Originally Posted by Blue Ghost (Post 2103271)

A real life example are people who are legally declared schizophrenic, with a typical symptom being that they believe their minds are being read with "microwave" technology. Ergo crazies who wear tin foil hats.

Originally Posted by thrash (Post 2103031)

I've been digging into the source literature that inspired Traveller (see, inter alia, Deciphering the Text Foundations of Traveller). I've found some interesting insights, which I'm still digesting.

One thing I haven't found, however, is an antecedent for Traveller's public prejudice against psionics. Some works (e.g., Andre Norton's) have criminals with psionic abilities. It also seems to be widely accepted in these sources that a crime is a crime, whether it is committed by a psychic or by mundane means. The idea that the mere use of psionics is objectionable and may result in lobotomy or death has not appeared in anything I've read so far.

Is this original to Marc Miller and company? It makes sense from a game balance perspective: it's a fairly simple way to keep the game from revolving around developing and using psionic abilities (unless that's what you want to do).

If not, what are the literary sources or inspirations for this feature? Remember, the source would have had to be available prior to 1977, since the section on "public prejudice" appears in the first edition (and, indeed, pre-dates the OTU).

Originally Posted by roguebfl (Post 2103201)

Anne McCaffrey's "To Ride Pegasus" ...

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin (Post 2103208)

There's some possibility of influence from Witches of Karres though the psi "Klaatha magic" is very high powered there. Also, Schmitz' Telzey Amberdon series.

Originally Posted by robkelk (Post 2103307)

Would this have literary sources, cinematic sources, or both?

Originally Posted by jason taylor (Post 2103347)

In any case Traveller had an elegant arrangement wherein psi were an oligarchy in one empire and a persecuted minority in a rival one.

Originally Posted by malloyd (Post 2103299)

Though only the first of them predates Traveller. I suspect the most discussed work with a persecuted psis theme around the time Traveller was being written would have been Katherine Kurtz Deryni series. Society hates and persecutes psis is not a rare theme in SF.

Originally Posted by malloyd (Post 2103299)

The bit that may be original to Traveller are the Psionic Institutes, I can't actually think of a precedent for those.

Originally Posted by Anthony (Post 2103378)

The Xavier Institute.

Originally Posted by thrash (Post 2103381)

... for Gifted Youngsters? I agree with malloyd, this is the usual: a school for people with already identified paranormal abilities. The ability comes first, and mutants are distinct from the general populace.

We're looking for a setting where (1) virtually everyone has psionic potential, (2) an "extremely low profile" organization exists to test and train that potential, and (3) "[t]he climate of public opinion about psionics is extremely negative."