message 0023

• Tape-teaching/Creativity/The characters of Azi

>From: nancy ott <ott@ansoft.com>
>Subject: Re: C. J. Cherryh List
>Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 17:44:59 EST

> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> >From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin>
> >Subject: Cherryhlist
> >Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 13:55:28 GMT
> 
>       Seems to have been quite for a while. I was busy running a games
> convention but there wasn't any traffic at all.
>       Anyway the game convention reminded me of ideas I had had when 
> exploring the idea of a C.J.Cherryh role-playing-game (*no*, not a game
> where you play leading SF authors!). I liked the idea of a mechanic that
> controled your ability to learn new skills. The higher the value, the
> quicker you picked up new things. However, taking deep tape of various
> sorts permanantly lowered this ability. I.e. you could instantly learn
> something from tape but it made it more difficult to pick up on things
> naturally.
>       The extreme case of this is, of course, the AZI. They are almost
> completely tape fed and are almost totally incapable of acting outside
> of their specific field. We get a good picture of AZI out of depth in
> 40,000 in Gahenna. The first generation AZI never fully adjust to what
> they have been thrust into but the later generations are not really
> impared.
>       If we accept this as a working premise it brings up an interesting
> question: If, as we see in Cyteen, tape-teaching is an increasingly common
> method of learning in society does that mean the society is more or less
> doomed to eventual stagnation as their creative process is sapped?
> 
>                       Jo

I don't think that deep-tape in itself *destroys* creativity -- seemed
to me it was presented as a more efficient way to learn things.  Does
any sort of learning destroy creativity?  The act of learning is in
some senses an acquired skill, so perhaps using tape will weaken this
skill (much like any skill that you don't use grows weaker).

On the other hand, I think tape could be used to condition people
against being creative (and disruptive) by affecting their attitudes
toward experimentation and conditioning them against certain types of
behaviors.  Are the azi creative?  They are generically human, so the
potential should be there.  Some of them are, such as Grant and
Florian.  But these "alpha" types seem to be less stable and resilient
(read: more like normal humans) than the run of the mill azi.  The azi
are designed personalities, so it seems reasonable to assume that a
great deal of creativity has been designed out of them.

By the way, one of the most chilling aspects of Cyteen for me was this
very casual attitude about human experimentation.  

-nancy