War Games
Описание книги
Throughout the centuries that have passed since humans first ventured into interstellar space, they have been at war with the alien Veich. The human race has, in consequence, been fully militarized, its educational system being a form of military training–which includes, among other disciplines, the elimination of fear from the human psyche. Attitudes to the war have, however, been colored by the gradual discovery of relics revealing that it is echoing an earlier interstellar conflict whose antagonists have completely disappeared, victors and vanquished alike. On a neglected continent of an unimportant world, ex-sergeant Remy and other human and Veich deserters have joined forces to form a mercenary company that places its expert skills at the disposal of the dominant indigenes. This refuge from the greater war is, however, disrupted when archeologists on another world discover evidence that there might be significant relics of the earlier war buried in the inhospitable heart of the continent, where barbarian tribes are currently massing for a religious war. Remy has no alternative but to revert to working for his own race, knowing that whatever he enables them to find, or even if they find nothing at all, his own life will be in grave peril, and that nothing will ever be the same again.... Great military SF! Also published as Optiman.
Отрывок из книги
Of all the objections which have been raised by opponents of this scheme, there are three in particular which have “crystalized out” into slogans to be wielded by the unthinking as if they were lances mounted with colored pennants. Each slogan represents a different mode of argument, and they may be categorized as the ontological argument, the teleological argument and the pragmatic argument. We live, of course, in an age of enlightened pragmatism, and it could be claimed that the pragmatic argument is the only one which we need to refute in order to justify the scheme. However, it is easy enough to show that all three arguments are equally insubstantial.
The ontological argument usually takes the form of the cant phrase: “Men who cannot fear cannot love.” The basic claim advanced here is that by training our children not to feel fear we are also training them not to feel a wide spectrum of emotions. Some people claim that we are actually training them not to feel at all, and that we are destroying the emotional basis of their being. The graduates of our present training schools, however, give ample evidence in their behavior that they are perfectly capable of feeling not only such emotions as rage and detestation but also loyalty, devotion and sexual passion. Adherents of this line of argument, when confronted with this testimony, may follow one of two contrasting lines of defense. Some will argue that none of these qualities is actually the kind of “love” which they mean, and that what they mean is not compounded out of any combination of these qualities. This is a familiar argumentative ploy used by those determined to evade any possible evidence which threatens to disprove their case, and is quite illegitimate. Others who wish to defend the case despite the evidence will go on to claim that the men who have already undergone this kind of training only appear to feel these emotions, and are in fact compensating behaviorally for their loss. In view of the fact that appearances are all that we have to build upon in claiming to know anything about the world whatsoever, this kind of argument ultimately extends skepticism into solipsism. If we were to be as skeptical as this of claims made by others about their feelings, then it is not merely the graduates of our training schools who would be suspect but the entire human race.
.....
Remy shifted again in his seat, and looked hard at the scroll, which Yerema still held extended on the tabletop. He let the story run through his mind, illuminating the rumors that had reached his own ears, and perceiving the strange sense that it yielded up to analysis.
“All right,” he said, “suppose that it’s true? What can we do about it?”
.....