<div dir="ltr">In my mind at least, the putative gap between the Hierogrammates and humans is not much greater than one between a human who knows mathematics and one who doesn't. <br>Hierogrammates are the creation of advanced humans. A creator's making a creation better than itself is questionable, and the Hierogrammates give little indication of being better than high-tech humans at any rate.<br>
<br>After all, humans/aliens with advanced powers like time-travel are a common enough SF idea. Usually these advanced, intertemporal interlopers don't get special moral privileges. Just because this particular variety of the trope claims to be higher beings akin to angels is no reason to believe it.<br>
<br>Fundamentally I believe they're still the same order of beings, just with bells and whistles.<br><br>Paul<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 2:20 PM, b sharp <<a href="mailto:bsharporflat@hotmail.com">bsharporflat@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
Paul B posts:<br>
>Any society is comprised of individuals on a continuum of cognitive<br>
>ability. To let this govern morality is unfair at best, and horrifying at<br>
>worst.<br>
<br>
>This is why letting the Hierogrammates off simply on the basis of their<br>
>superior understanding is an abhorrent idea.<br>
<br>
<br>
What I think this ignores is that the continuum needn't end at the human<br>
with the lowest cognition, it can extend through the range of animals down<br>
to the protozoans (and beyond?). Perhaps Paul is one of that small minority of<br>
people who consider all animals to be of equal moral equivalence to human beings,<br>
equally able to govern morality as any person. If so, his argument makes sense.<br>
<br>
If he is not then I assume he is in the majority and considers there to be a gap<br>
which separates animals and humans on a moral basis. This gap means that<br>
animals are separated; not on the same cognitive continuum as adult members<br>
of human society. Thus we assume the right to kill some populations of animals<br>
(mosquitoes), corral others in game preserves (tigers), use fake mating calls to herd<br>
and protect them (whales), put some in zoos, eat some of them etc.<br>
<br>
If we were discussing the real world, I could see Paul's point. But we are in a fictional<br>
world now. In this world Baldanders is above average in perception but still human,<br>
still on the human continuum. In BotNS, Hierogrammates are not human. They have<br>
powers of perception and travel which dwarf the gap between humans and animals.<br>
Wolfe makes sure we readers are given hierodules, hierarchs and green men to know<br>
that Hierogrammates are several orders of magnitude greater than human being.<br>
Humans judging Hierogrammates carries the weight of lemurs judging the wildlife<br>
preservation efforts of the current Madagascar government administration.<br>
<br>
I think the view of beings with superior morality to humans is essentially religious.<br>
I am not religious but I can at least stretch my brain far enough to join the majority<br>
of my fellow humans and understand the principle.<br>
<br>
-bsharp<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Paul Borochin<br>PhD student, Fuqua School
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