A tale where we join the great Go-Captain Magno Taliano on one of his thousands of missions into the Up and Out of outer space. However, the brave, savvy captain encounters the unexpected on this, his final expedition – he confronts the impossible: he and his ship are lost in space.
The Burning of the Brain is one of Cordwainer Smith's shorter short-stories but it's a adventure yarn prompting us to reflect on a number of quizzical philosophic questions, including this trio:
KNOW THYSELF
Captain Taliano's wife Dolores Oh is aboard, a lady who, in her younger days, was a ravishing beauty, a beauty who would take men's breath away. However, Dolores Oh refused to go through the ordinary rejuvenescence process whereby she would retain her youth and beauty for her entire life. Why? Dolores Oh, in her pride, reflected: "Surely I am me. There must be a me more than the beauty of my face, there must be a something other than the delicacy of skin and the accidental lines of my jaw and my cheekbone.” Dolores Oh wanted to be loved for her true Self, that is, her authentic inner nature.
Hmm. Is this a valid approach? Couldn't Dolores Oh remain a beauty and recognize her higher, truer self is, according to many forms of yoga, a union of her own consciousness with the consciousness of the universe? If I were a young lady I would certainly opt for rejuvenescence, letting my physical beauty be an expression of the beauty inherent in all of life. If men fall in love with me based solely on my appearance without seeing my deeper, more profound beauty, that's their issue, not mine.
MEMORIES LOCKED IN OUR BRAIN
The tale's title derives from the fact Magno Taliano's brain must literally be burned out (ouch!) in order to retrieve the map buried deep in his subconscious mind, a map providing a route back to their home base. True, such a burning will leave the good captain little more than a grinning idiot but since their ship is lost in space, this drastic procedure is their sole alternative.
The idea of extracting a person's memory to benefit others surely raises many ethical issues. Would you like your family and friends reading the contents of your mind as if they were reading scenes in a novel? A rather chilling thought. Yet a start-up company, Nectome, claims that one day such a possibility will be a reality. From their website: “Nectome is a research company dedicated to advancing the science of memory. We design and conduct experiments to discover how the brain physically creates memories. And, we develop biological preservation techniques to better preserve the physical traces of memory.” Any volunteers out there? Can you imagine such a powerful tool in the hands of a police state?
TELEPATHY AND SF TECHNOLOGY
"As your uncle burned out his brain, you picked up his skills. Can't you sense it? You are a Go-Captain yourself and one of the greatest of us." Magno Taliano's niece Dita hears these words from a member of the crew. Dita has been in training to be a Go-Captain herself and during her uncle's brain burning process, via her mind-to-mind communication with her uncle, the great Go-Captain Magno Taliano, she now has the needed map as part of her own memory. A combination burning of the brain and telepathy save the day.
The desire to possess certain technical knowledge quickly and easily has a lively history in SF going back to the cartoon of a man sitting on one side of the room and a chicken siting on the other, both with metal caps strapped to their heads. Someone pushes a button sending an electronic jolt to both caps. The result: the chicken now has the mind of a man and the man has the mind of a chicken.
Going back to Dita and Magno Taliano, what knowledge would you like to have if you could have it instantly? An ability to speak, read and write Chinese? A mastery of topology or another branch of higher mathematics or field of science? Or, perhaps, the talent to write an essay like Michel de Montaigne or play a musical instrument like a virtuoso? If it would take zero effort on your part, the possibilities would be endless.
Again, I've just touched on a trio of questions The Burning of the Brain asks us to consider. For the full philosophic complement, you'll have to read for yourself. Link: https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/smithcord...
American author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger aka Cordwainer Smith, 1913-1966
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