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From: @RUTGERS.ARPA:Susser.PASA@Xerox.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Pointers please?
Message-ID: <616@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 13-Feb-85 13:22:56 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.616
Posted: Wed Feb 13 13:22:56 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Feb-85 03:03:12 EST
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Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: Susser.PASA@XEROX.ARPA

> I am looking for stories dealing with racial memory or group minds.

The Fire Lizards in Anne McCaffrey's Pern series had racial memory.  So
did Paul Muad'dib Atreides ("Dune") and his children and his sister
Alia.  Keith Laumer's "The Infinite Cage" has a character who can draw
upon the memories of all of humanity somewhat telepathically.

Group minds?  Heinlein had something in "Methusula's Children" (in the
collection "The Past Through Tomorrow") about The Little People.  Also
the alien enemy bug thingies in "Starship Troopers".  And "I Will Fear
No Evil" had a group of minds in a single body.  "The Puppet Masters"
were kind of a group mind (this story was ripped-off into a Star Trek
episode where a blob of Jello-slime flies onto Spock's back and tries to
take over his body).  Varley had an interesting version of a group mind
in "The Persistence of Vision".  And Gaea ("Titan", "Wizard", "Demon")
could fragment herself into a group of minds.  Also, Varley's Symb-human
pairs that lived in the Rings of Saturn ("Equinoctial") experienced a
very loose form of group mind (mostly due to mating!).  The basic
conflict in Haldeman's "Forever War" hinged upon the incompatibilities
of group and discrete minds.  Julian May's Galactic Milieu ("The Saga of
the Pliocene Exile") had a sort of Galactic group mind called Unity.
Movies -- Nestor in "Battle Beyond the Stars" was a group mind
(hillarious scene of one Nestor eating a hot-dog and all of them
chewing).

And to all you people in net land:  I remember a short story (by
Heinlein or Asimov?) that involved a starship manned by a multi-racial
crew coming to evacuate Earth before Sol goes nova.  A few of the crew
were part of a group mind.  This was important when a landing party was
trapped in a trans-Atlantic subway and cut off from radio
communications.  Anyone know the author/title?

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but it should keep you
busy for a while.

--Josh

Nestor: "That's okay, we always carry a spare."