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🕑 Added 2015-12-19 00:45:34 +0000 UTC

Comments

Nyrath

The Science Fiction Encyclopedia talks about the "Psi Boom" of science fiction in the '50's and '60s, due to the actions of editor John W. Campbell Jr.

Michael Hutson

Spiritualism evolved into "parapsychology", a legitimate if highly speculative field of inquiry in the 1940's and 1950's; enough so that the CIA investigated it's potential. It turned out that poor methodology was responsible for early positive results. But by that time the idea was so entrenched in fiction that scarcely a SF story in the '60s or '70s didn't feature psi.

Nyrath

Ah, nice! I'll have to read those then.

Alistair Young

On further thought, actually, the thing that really stands out to me about the Pliocene Exile/Galactic Milieu books is that they're perhaps the one example I've seen of psionics that are actually well-integrated with the underlying physics in the worldbuilding process... (Said underlying physics in this case being "dynamic-field theory", the local GUT, which presents the mechanisms unifying mind and matter - with explored implications, including the ability to build mechanical psionic devices and enhancers, that all the other SFnal handwavium runs off the same underlying effects as the psionics with consequences fully explored, etc., etc. Which makes it a *very* refreshing change from all the universes where psionics seems to be this awkward grab-bag of effects hung off the side a ways.)

Nyrath

Ah, thanks for the pointer! When I was a teenager I tried to read the first book in the Pliocene series, and grew disinterested after a few pages. I'll have to try again.

Alistair Young

As long as psionics are on the table, I'd be vaguely remiss not to mention Julian May's Pliocene Exile/Galactic Milieu series for your consideration, which has probably the most well-drawn depiction of them of anything I've ever read or heard of...