Colin Barrett: Blog

The truth is that even contemporary machines don't emulate speech very well, not even our own let alone dolphins' (in the conceit of this novel).
There'll be more later about the rather curious role of national intelligence in our lives. I've remarked on the catch-all of "national security" in another novel, and how it's used so freely to excuse so many misdeeds and so much foolery. Our safety has become no more than a political football.

So OK, here's a little more sex stuff. Not much, really, and it's all talk. But then I told you I don't really do a lot of sex in my writing. This chapter is more on the order of drawing one of the primary distinctions between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. With humans sex is as much a mental activity as a physical one, whereas with other animals the whole thing is physical. At least, so I suppose; I've never been another animal nor in one's head, so I can't be dead positive.
Anyhow, that same distinction of course applies to all areas of behavior. Humans are, so far as I'm aware, the only living species on the planet that analyzes and interpolates a mental element to acts that for other animals are purely physical. I suppose it's an asset, although it also leads to a lot of negatives both directly and indirectly.

This chapter is mostly for fun. A lot of the rest of the novel has some serious undertones, and this is supposed to be recreational reading. So I thought I'd introduce a light note at this juncture. I've met people a lot like the way I present Barbara, and mostly they seem to get away with their behavior; others are either too intimidated or too polite to challenge them directly. One of the neat things about writing fiction is that one isn't constrained by the limits of reality and one's more obnoxious characters can receive their just desserts. Anyhow, I especially enjoyed writing this one, and hope you enjoy reading it in equal measure.

The substance of today's chapter lies mainly in Minacou's segment.
Controlling others is principally a human obsession. Sure, animals get involved in that sort of thing to a degree. The alpha male of an animal grouping (herd, pack, whatever) can get pretty possessive about the females mating with other males if it's done within his eyesight, and alpha males will sometimes do away with offspring of their predecessors immediately after assuming their possessions. But it stops there and doesn't extend to other behaviors. Choice of friends, daily activities, and so on are always left to each individual's discretion. Humans alone seek to exercise control of subordinates, mates, associates, even strangers, whether actions take place in eyeshot or at a distance, in an almost ritualistic display of dominance; it's the human who has developed the notion of individual property and has expanded it to the treatment of others of his species as property. Slavery is a human invention, for instance; in other species interlopers are either killed off immediately or absorbed into the social unit without prejudice or lasting loss of status. And consider the male domination that so many men exert over their families (and, to a lesser degree, is similarly wielded by domineering wives) in terms of allowing or disallowing specific behaviors or even thought processes. Ever seen a dog or cat (or, for that matter, horse or guppy) act like that?
Something to think about.

This chapter is my best effort to clarify what I conceive to be the likely difference between the way humans think and perceive the world around them and how a dolphin might do it. Not sure I have it quite right, but I expect I'm not too far from what's likely. I'd guess it's pretty much the same for most animals, but others lack the mental capacity to recognize and articulate it to themselves. At least such is the conceit around which I've built this story.