(urth) S&S vs. SF in BotNS

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

Jeff Wilson wrote:
> On 12/21/2011 10:58 AM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
>>
>> "psi" is a fancy word for magic.
>
>
> Outside the context of speculative fiction, perhaps.

More specifically, outside the hobbyhorses of John W. Campbell, who
also took up Dianetics, the Dean Drive, and the Hieronymus machine. He
was a nutbar in his later years, but still a pretty good editor.


> It was intended to mean
> a physical process that could occasionally be mistaken for the magic of myth
> and legend but could be studied objectively  They have very different
> connotations and spiritual implications.

More to the point, it was intended to give the impression that such a
physical process was being discussed. However, no serious physical
mechanism was ever proposed (beyond unspecified "brain mutations" with
no mechanism attached to _them_).

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes