More than Human / Theodore Sturgeon

More than Human

category: science fiction, author:

Theodore Sturgeon

original copyright 1953,
read in December 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

Another "authentic masterpiece", according to the cover blurb. Well worth reading but not great, I would say. This is science fiction from the days when mental powers were the up-and-coming science of the day...

Take a bunch of troubled kids, dumb kids and cretins, mix them together, gain a superior being. Just as the body is made of separate parts -- none of which could exist as an individual -- so too is Sturgeon's new being a mix of people who could not survive on their own.

Is this a story of the creation and growth of a gestalt being? Or is it a pointed message for the need for a complete mind in any human being... In true science fiction style, this book is both.

Sturgeon describes the growth of his gestalt being. The middle third of the story is rather boring and confused. Or perhaps I simply don't appreciate the use of psychological concepts as though they were absolute, immutable and all-powerful. Still, it's part of the interesting structure of the story: id, ego, super-ego...

First, Sturgeon creates a being driven by its id. Reactive, simple, survival oriented. Then the ego is born... Or, since this is a gestalt being, the pure id "head" is replaced by a more analytical and ego-centred head. Finally, the third section of the book follows the development of a super-ego -- in simple terms, a social conscience.

Now that's interesting... Did Sturgeon actually use those terms? Id, ego, super-ego? Not as far as I remember... He discussed morals and ethos and ethics but missed the neat, three-level labels which neatly classify what he, Sturgeon, is trying to say...

So... this is a novel about the next stage of evolutionary development, "homo gestalt"... Or not.

The new homo gestalt is a being with individual humans acting as head, arms... No, I just can't make sense of the breakdown. Sorry, but Sturgeon's gestalt being is confused. He writes of the two arms but there's a third. Then there's the brain but that brain is for memory and analysis, with a second brain for overall control and a third for conscience. Sturgeon says that his gestalt being is a separated version of a single human being -- but it isn't. Not in the terms that he uses.

The gestalt being is a group of semi-independent people with overlapping roles within the gestalt. The main point of the story is the essential nature of the conscience. The gestalt conscience is provided by a new person within the gestalt -- yet the new conscience is simply overlaid onto the existing ego person...

Ignoring that confusion, consider my claim that, "The main point of the story is the essential nature of the conscience." Sure, Sturgeon is writing about a gestalt being. But his message is for every human being: a conscience -- a working set of ethics -- is essential.

That's what science fiction does: Step away from current reality and use an invented and restricted world to give a clear message back to the real world. (Well, that's just one thing that a science fiction story may do.) Sturgeon has given us an interesting view of an improved humanity. At the same time, he has given us -- unimproved humanity -- a message which is as true now as when his story was written.

Still, I wish he had been a bit more imaginative with his gestalt being... What's wrong with having more than two "arm people"? Or perhaps three or four "eye people"?! A specialised "green thumb" person to manage the gardens? I mean, okay, he's making a human gestalt. With human abilities but even better. Why not add a few useful extra "organs" while he's at it?!

..o0o..

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