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hbpiper.thelittlefuzzy-第46章

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ALL THE FUZZIES were in court this morning: Jack's six; and the five from the constabulary post; and Ben's Flora and Fauna; and the four Ruth Ortheris claimed。 There was too much discussion going on for anybody to keep an eye on them。 Finally one of the constabulary Fuzzies; either Dillinger or Dr。 Crippen; and Ben Rainsford's Flora and Fauna; came sauntering out into the open space between the tables and the bench dragging the hose of a vacuum…duster。 Ahmed Khadra ducked under a table and tried to get it away from them。 This was wonderful; screaming in delight; they all laid hold of the other end; and Mike and Mitzi and Superego and plex ran to help them。 The seven of them dragged Khadra about ten feet before he gave up and let go。 At the same time; an incipient fight broke out on either side of the arc of tables between the head of the language department of Mallorysport Academy and a spinsterish amateur phoneticist。 At this point; Judge Pendarvis; deciding that if you can't prevent it; relax and enjoy it; rapped a few times with his gavel; and announced that court was recessed。
     〃You will all please remain here; this is not an adjournment; and if any of the various groups who seem to be discussing different aspects of the problem reach any conclusion they feel should be presented in evidence; will they please notify the bench so that court can be reconvened。 In any case; we will reconvene at eleven thirty。〃
     Somebody wanted to know if smoking would be permitted during the recess。 The Chief Justice said that it would。 He got out a cigar and lit it。 Mamma Fuzzy wanted a puff: she didn't like it。 Out of the corner of his eye; he saw Mike and Mitzi; Flora and Fauna scampering around and up the steps behind the bench。 When he looked again; they were all up on it; and Mitzi was showing the court what she had in her shoulder bag。
     He got up; with Mamma and Baby; and crossed to where Leslie Coombes was sitting。 By this time; somebody was bringing in a coffee urn from the cafeteria。 Fuzzies ought to happen oftener in court。
      
THE GAVEL TAPPED slowly。 Little Fuzzy scrambled up onto Jack Holloway's lap。 After five days in court; they had all learned that the gavel meant for Fuzzies and other people to be quiet。 It might be a good idea; Jack thought; to make a little gavel; when he got home; and keep it on the table in the living room for when the family got too boisterous。 Baby; who wasn't gavel…trained yet; started out onto the floor; Mamma dashed after him and brought him back under the table。
     The place looked like a courtroom again。 The tables were ranged in a neat row facing the bench; and the witness chair and the jury box were back where they belonged。 The ashtrays and the coffee urn and the ice tubs for beer and soft drinks had vanished。 It looked like the party was over。 He was almost regretful; it had been fun。 Especially for seventeen Fuzzies and a Baby Fuzzy and a little black…and…white kitten。
     There was one unusual feature; there was now a fourth man on the bench; in gold…braided Navy black; sitting a little apart from the judges; trying to look as though he weren't there at all…Space modore Alex Napier。
     Judge Pendarvis laid down his gavel。 〃Ladies and gentlemen; are you ready to present the opinions you have reached?〃 he asked。
     Lieutenant Ybarra; the Navy psychologist; rose。 There was a reading screen in front of him; he snapped it on。
     〃Your Honors;〃 he began; 〃there still exists considerable difference of opinion on matters of detail but we are in agreement on all major points。 This is quite a lengthy report; and it has already been incorporated into the permanent record。 Have I the court's permission to summarize it?〃
     The court told him he had。 Ybarra glanced down at the screen in front of him and continued:
     〃It is our opinion;〃 he said; 〃that sapience may be defined as differing from nonsapience in that it is characterized by conscious thought; by ability to think in logical sequence and by ability to think in terms other than mere sense data。 We…meaning every member of every sapient race…think consciously; and we know what we are thinking。 This is not to say that all our mental activity is conscious。 The science of psychology is based; to a large extent; upon our realization that only a small portion of our mental activity occurs above the level of consciousness; and for centuries we have been diagramming the mind as an iceberg; one…tenth exposed and nine…tenths submerged。 The art of psychiatry consists largely in bringing into consciousness some of the content of this submerged nine…tenths; and as a practitioner I can testify to its difficulty and uncertainty。
     〃We are so habituated to conscious thought that when we reach some conclusion by any nonconscious process; we speak of it as a 'hunch;' or an 'intuition;' and question its validity。 We are so habituated to acting upon consciously formed decisions that we must laboriously acquire; by systematic drill; those automatic responses upon which we depend for survival in bat or other emergencies。 And we are by nature so unaware of this vast submerged mental area that it was not until the first century Pre…Atomic that its existence was more than vaguely suspected; and its nature is still the subject of acrimonious professional disputes。〃
     There had been a few of those; off and on; during the past four days; too。
     〃If we depict sapient mentation as an iceberg; we might depict nonsapient mentation as the sunlight reflected from its surface。 This is a considerably less exact analogy; while the nonsapient mind deals; consciously; with nothing but present sense data; there is a considerable absorption and reemission of subconscious memories。 Also; there are occasional flashes of what must be conscious mental activity; in dealing with some novel situation。 Dr。 van Riebeek; who is especially interested in the evolutionary aspect of the question; suggests that the introduction of novelty because of drastic environmental changes may have forced nonsapient beings into more or less sustained conscious thinking and so initiated mental habits that; in time; gave rise to true sapience。
     〃The sapient mind not only thinks consciously by habit; but it thinks in connected sequence。 It associates one thing with another。 It reasons logically; and forms conclusions; and uses those conclusions as premises from which to arrive at further conclusions。 It groups associations together; and generalizes。 Here we pass pletely beyond any parison with nonsapience。 This is not merely more consciousness; or more thinking; it is thinking of a radically different kind。 The nonsapient mind deals exclusively with crude sensory material。 The sapient mind translates sense impressions into ideas; and then forms ideas of ideas; in ascending orders of abstraction; almost without limit。
     〃This; finally; brings us to one of the recognized overt manifestations of sapience。 The sapient being is a symbol user。 The nonsapient being cannot symbolize; because the nonsapient mind is incapable of concepts beyond mere sense images。〃
     Ybarra drank some water; and twisted the dial of his reading screen with the other hand。
   
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