Thrint Question

"James Kuyper" wrote in message

> On 10/06/2010 04:32 AM, Tim Bruening wrote:
>
> [On 2008-01-06]
>> Matthias Warkus wrote:
>>
>>> Tim Bruening schrieb:
>>>> To put down the Tnuctipun uprising, the Thrint elders built a super
>>>> duper amplifier helmet and used it to order everyone in the galaxy to
>>>> commit suicide, including themselves. ...
>
> No evidence has been uncovered within the Known Space series that
> identifies precisely what the order actually said, or even whether it was
> actually sent. The extinction of virtually every chordate species from
> that time period is an archaeologically confirmed event; the only known
> exceptions being the Bandersnatchi and the Grogs. However, that this
> extinction was the result of a Suicide command is only a guess, processed
> with the power of human intellect, and based upon what Kzanol knew of the
> psychology of the Slavers and of the technology that they had available.
>
> It's possible that the Bandersnatchi remembered something of the events,
> and may have informed humans of what they knew. After all, they retained
> memories of Tnuctipun science script, and of treaties that were apparently
> negotiated with other people who knew that script. However, whatever
> memories they might have divulged to humans has not been revealed in any
> of the canonical Known Space stories. I haven't read most of the
> non-canonical stories - they might have more to say on that matter.
>
> Therefore, it's entirely possible that the command ordered everyone BUT
> the Thrint to commit suicide. The Thrint might not have died off as a
> result of committing suicide, but as a result of failing to appreciate the
> extent to which they were dependent upon slave species. Without the
> support of the slave species, they lacked the skills needed to keep
> themselves alive. It's even possible that they shielded some members of
> the slave species from the order; but not enough. Finally, it's possible
> that they did save enough members of slave species to ensure their own
> survival, but that the Tnuctipun had a doomsday weapon of their own that
> was triggered by the equivalent of a dead-man's switch.
>
> Also, the die-off was apparently not complete; the Grogs are believed to
> be descended from the Slavers.
>
>>>> ... Why didn't the Thrint apply the
>>>> suicide order only to the Tnuctipun? ("All Tnuctipun commit suicide at
>>>> once. All other slaves take a one day nap").
>>>
>>> Because the Thrint were about as sharp as a sack of wet mice? ISTR that
>>> reasoning wasn't exactly their forte.
>> Beginning of "World of P'tavvs": A Thrint named Kzanol comes up with a
>> clever
>> way to rescue himself from a ship stranded in space and moving at 93% of
>> the
>> speed of light, and also keep other Thrint from stealing his valuable
>> possessions. He ordered his ship's Brain to plot and execute a course
>> to
>> F124 (Earth) using half the remaining power, completing all necessary
>> maneuvers in a day. He then told the Brain to plot a course to the 8th
>> planet (Neptune) of the F124 system, wait 1/2 day, and then execute. He
>> then
>> went outside his ship and activated his suit's stasis field. His spare
>> suit,
>> still on the ship and containing his valuables, was already in another
>> stasis
>> field. I consider the above actions to be an indication that Kzanol is
>> fairly smart. The only thing he missed was the possibility of one of
>> Neptune's moons getting in the way!
>
> Your message seems to be almost word-for-word identical to the response
> you posted on 2008-01-06. Why do you feel a need to repeat yourself? The
> only difference is that this message is also cross-posted to
> alt.test.fest. You should have made not of that cross-posting when you
> expanded the message.
>
> Kzanol's own personality, when it was making use of a human brain, reached
> the conclusion that the human brain was a lot more intelligent than
> Kzanol's own brain. All of the potential for bias runs in the opposite
> direction, so I think we can reasonably conclude that this was a correct
> assessment.


Gorrr. Look at all the typing Tim's made eem do! Well done Tim!
 >> Stay informed about: Thrint Question 

On 07/10/2010 2:48 PM, Mike Van Pelt wrote:
> In article ,
> James Kuyper wrote:
>> Well, yes, it was precisely that speculation I was referring to;
>> some Thrints may have survived, and their descendants devolved
>> into Grogs.
>
> Except for one little detail - With Thrints, the males are
> sapient, and the females aren't. Grogs, females are sapient,
> and the males aren't.

That's far from the only little detail that's different between Grogs
and Thrints. Thrints aren't sessile, is another obvious one.

But I see no problem with that. It's, what, a billion years of evolution
between the two? It's a miracle there's things even remotely similar
between them.

In fact, I find it sort of dubious that there'd be even as much
similarity as we do see; it's unlikely that a particular complex and
specialized adaptation would persist for so long in a changeable
environment. I suspect it's more likely that another species simply
evolved a similar biological mind-control mechanism in parallel.
Evolution doesn't take out patents and even if it did they'd have
expired long ago.
 >> Stay informed about: Thrint Question 

norrin wrote:

> On Jan 6, 3:29 am, Tim Bruening wrote:
> > To put down the Tnuctipun uprising, the Thrint elders built a super
> > duper amplifier helmet and used it to order everyone in the galaxy to
> > commit suicide, including themselves. Why didn't the Thrint apply the
> > suicide order only to the Tnuctipun? ("All Tnuctipun commit suicide at
> > once. All other slaves take a one day nap").
>
> The Tnuctipun are vital to the Thrint economy. If they die,
> the Thrint will waste away. For a long time, the Thrint had
> no enemies and they lost the knack for self preservation.

I have come up with a much better command for the Thrint to give:
"Forget all thoughts of rebellion!".
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