Zhodani without Psi

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Malenfant

I have no idea - you're the one who's going off on a rant for no reason here.

The question in the OP asked is "what would the Zhodani be without supernatural psi?". I just took it further and asked why people were still trying to have them with any "psi-like abilities" at all (whether technological or otherwise) - why not just go the whole hog and have them without anything like that? There are plenty of ways to control a populace without psychic powers after all.

I don't think we "need" them to have psionics at all. As you point out, they'ree an interesting enough race without them - just in having a civilisation where freedom of thought is so controlled yet apparently so harmonious is a good scifi issue to explore. Is it better to be miserable and free or happy and restricted? Is Zho society really so morally repugnant? It's like the episode of Angel where they avert the "apocalypse" only to find that actually most people would have been quite happy and content if it came to pass. Were they right or wrong?

That's a great 'what if' to explore and scifi is all about the 'what if', after all.

The answer is simply that having a Psiocracy is a distinctive enough idea to be worth playing with. We surely don't "need" it, though it is hard to picture the Zho as the Zho without it. But it is interesting, and being interesting is good enough of a reason. Having a Psiocracy is also a great "what-if"

As for "supernatural" psi, the proper term is "preternatural". Supernatural must come from a source outside the universe(which is why even Greek gods are not "supernatural"). That is neither here nor there.

Part of the reason I sounded irritated is that I suspect, like several people here apparently, that you have a prejudice against soft sci-fi as a genre. Traveller is soft sci-fi and Psi belongs in it. Admittedly you dislike the use of the term "science" fiction for settings that accept questionable science. Which is understandable, although I am a history buff and don't really mind having Sidhe in Sevenwaters and calling it "historical" fantasy. I do get irritated by Britons having names like Richard, Hugh, and Simon, which were as far as I can remember not current in that era. I don't think however that this stops Sevenwaters from being a Historical Fantasy and a darn good one. Likewise I don't think soft science stops Traveller from being "sci-fi". Perhaps you prefer the term Space Saga? That relieves the need for terms that imply scientific accuracy. Traveller is certainly a Space Saga and a darn good one, just as Sevenwaters is a darn good historical fantasy.