Cognitive Ability And The Light Bulb

by Brian W. Aldiss


The  arrival  of the  spaceship  Conqueror into  Arcopian  space proves  ironic.
However,  it  provides  us with  an  opportunity  to look  back  on  our distant
predecessors  and  understand  something  of  their  combative  and  jerry-built
societies.

Once the dead bodies had been  cleared from the Conqueror, and preserved  in our
museums, mechs were dispatched to examine  the ship as part of our  phylogenetic
record.

The ship was fitted with old-fashioned quantum-computers. The Conqueror had left
the old  solar system  late in  2095. It  carried ten  thousand human embryos in
cryogenic  conditions,  and  several  million  embryos,  similarly  frozen,   of
terrestrial animal genera, together with numerous plant species. There were also
twenty crew, supported by anti-thanatonic drugs.

Technologists had  designed the  ship to  accelerate to  twelve per  cent of the
speed of light. By  their computations, it was  due to reach this  system (where
only two planets capable of supporting carbon-based life had been identified) in
one hundred and ninety-six years. The power source was a fusion engine.

In those rather primitive days,  attention concentrated on the hardware.  It was
the bacteria  on the  Conqueror which  brought about  disaster, killing crew and
embryos alike.

Advances in radiotelescopy  revealed no less  than fifteen planets  orbiting the
Arcopia main sequence sun. At least five sustained suitable environments. In the
Second  Renaissance  taking  place  in the  third  decade  of  the twenty-second
century, the spiritual order of God's Exiles perfected an ion drive and equipped
another interstellar ship, Pilgrim. Pilgrim was launched from Plutonian orbit in
2151. It carried with it the embryos of new species of animals, fruits and human
beings.  The entire  journey was  governed by  quantors; God's  Exiles did   not
inflict years of imprisonment on humans, as the Conqueror had done.

This  journey took  one hundred  and thirty-eight  years to  complete. Thus  the
arrival was in 2289, two years before the Conqueror reached us, despite starting
fifty-six years later.

In these improved drives we see symbols of the expansion of human consciousness.
Everything  is subject  to change,  and living  things to  evolutionary  change,
marking  their  passage   through  time.  Study   of  the  evolution   of  human
consciousness was scarcely recognised as a discipline until interstellar  flight
was proved to  speed conceptual processes.  The necessity for  understanding and
dealing  with  totally   new  environments  was   responsible  for  this   rapid
acceleration in human mentation. A  similar acceleration is recorded some  forty
thousand years  ago in  Europe, when  fresh environments  brought about  a great
expansion in  the metaphors  of art  and sculpture  - all  of which represent an
upward surge in cognitive ability.

Which  is to  say that  to produce  art or  science is  to experience  a  coming
together of  previously somewhat  isolated faculties,  which combine  to make  a
greater whole.  Another well-known  example of  such a  quantal happening is the
First Renaissance,  a time  of great  advances in  arts, sciences,  warfare, and
political management.

The  twenty-second  century  philosopher, Almond  Kunzel,  has  used an  analogy
between human consciousness  and a light  bulb of an  old-fashioned order. Early
consciousness  could be  likened to  a forty  watt bulb  - sufficient  dimly  to
illumine a room, though insufficient to study details by. The Renaissance  marks
a shift  in brightness  to sixty  watts. Much  more can  be discerned,  although
illumination is not cast very far.

With the Twentieth Century,  often referred to as  the Savage Century, owing  to
its horrifying record of war, threats of war and genocide, the bulb brightens to
one  hundred  watts.  Despite  the savagery,  humanity  is  for  the first  time
developing  a form  of remote  awareness (remware,  as we  know it)  to aid  its
exploration of all environments.

Those  environments  included,  of  course,  the  solar  system  to  which   our
predecessors were then confined, and also the human brain. The brain was  almost
completely  mapped  by  the end  of  the  Savage Century.  With  the  ability to
genetically engineer brain  function, many irregularities,  caused by the  jerry
-building  of this  organism, were  eradicated. Clearer  thinking emerged  as  a
result. War was obviated.

We now reached the stage of, in Kunzel's terms, the one thousand watt brain. Our
offspring are born with an understanding of fractals.

This great  expansion of  cognitive ability  led to  the new  perception of  the
universe as a  series of contiguities,  and to the  terrestrial construction, in
the year 2162, of the photon drive. The fleet of ships launched in 2200  arrived
here in the planetary system of Arcopia the next year.

Our culture  was thus  firmly established  when the  old ships  of 2095 and 2151
arrived, fossils of a former time. They harbour in orbits far from the planet on
which humanity began - long before there was even a light bulb to light our way.
Records on these gallant old hulks demonstrate how, sadly, the human world  once
contained less order, less joy and less fulfilment than now.
