On Tue, 11 Nov 2003, Mark Englehart wrote: >At 11:14 PM 11/9/2003 -0800, David Silberstein wrote: >>On Sun, 9 Nov 2003, Mark Englehart wrote >> > and b). learn to see things from the other person's point of >> >view; something next to impossible for a Dragaeran who isn't a Tiassa. >> > >> >>Um. I think you are wildly wrong on this last point. [snip some examples] > >Okay, I misspoke. What I meant to write was the other *House's* >point of view. As Vlad has pointed out, a Dragon always thinks >like a Dragon, a Dzur like a Dzur. They are not inhuman, they >can develop empathy, but their frame of reference is always >limited by those animal genes. I have my doubts as to whether the "animal genes" have *that* great an influence on what are 99% human, and I would suggest that rather than "always limited", I would put it as "usually limited", or even "often limited". As examples of seeing from other Houses' points-of-view, I would point to Khaavren's friends, who have come to learn how each of the others thinks, to a certain degree. There's also the introduction to /Issola/, where Vlad mentions some of the rules for politeness among the various Houses, but adds that some, knowing the rules for the other Houses, will sometimes use those other rules when meeting someone of that House. And speaking of Issola, I would suggest that one of the natures of that House is to *want* to see things as others do, if only so as to know how to act appropriately towards those others. An amusing thought: It is possible to "borrow" someone's eyes using magic, as we see Morrolan do in /Issola/. So he was quite literaly seeing things from Vlad's point-of-view. Heh. > >I think that this is an allegory that Steven has played with all >along that Theodore Sturgeon would have been most impressed with: >only if you can transcend thinking with the animal brain can you >become a human being. > An excellent point, and which prompts me to add that many (most?) people right here in the real world often have trouble seeing things as others do.