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Scientifictionist, v. 2, issue 2, whole no. 8, March-April 1947
Page 5
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AN ANALYSIS OF HEINRICH HAUSER'S "TITANS' BATTLE" by Robert B. Langan Editor, Great Lakes Technocrat Amazing Stories for March 1947 presented Heinrich Hauser's most recent contribution to American science fiction. We read the whole story. It was a struggle to get through it, but somehow we did it. The story does not hold one's interest because it is poorly written and far too long for the material it contains. The author's ignorance of the subject he deals with is outstanding. He may know a little about biology, or medicine -- but he is non compos mentis when it comes to psychology, economics, and Technocracy. As a specific example of what we mean, take this gem on page 53: "...hard boiled politicians bowed their heads, confessed their grevious inadequacy, renounced their own rule and handed powers over to a World-Council of Scientists." However, they apparently didn't hand over the political and financial method of operations, or abandon it; for in the next 100 pages Hauser tells a story of a world operated by scientists using the political and business methods instead of the scientific method. All the age-old concepts of power, domination and exploitation are worked overtime by the ruling classes of scientists. Scientists might make that kind of a muddle of social operations, but the application of the scientific method would not. If, as and when the scientific method is applied to social problems there will be no muddling around, no age-old exploitation or maneuvering for power and everything else that accompanies our present method of social operations. If this occurs, it is proof that the scientific method is not being used. What Heinrich Hauser is picturing, then, is a world turned fascist. He is picturing a fantastic projection of fascism ostensibly under the control of science but operated from behind the scene by the elite. In fact, we get a strong impression that Mr. Hauser is putting out a projection of his own suppressed desires: "Titans' Battle" is a wish-fulfillment. There are several grounds for this conclusion: First; the author's name is German. Second; his overlabored effort to inject American slang into the story so as to give it a folksy ring. The slang he uses is all antiquated and out of date. There are numerous examples in the text. Third; his frequent derision of 'inferior' races. This is a typical fascist giveaway. Science recognizes no inferior or superior races. Fourth; his lefthanded laudation of Hitler on page 82 where he says: "Of Hitler the Devil, who always wanted the good and always did the bad." our guess is that Hauser is a German either newly arrived in this country or one who has not been assimilated into the stream of American culture. The whole mess has a foreign ring to it. His ignorance of 'economics' is demonstrated by his continuing to have society operated by Price System methods long after Abundance had been ralized. The Mamlock foods gave all men freedom from want. They could eat six times a day; hours of work got so short that the Senate was hard put to find something for the people to do. Yet all this was carried on by the age old Price System methods of buy and sell. The rich got ever richer but at the same time the masses had Abundance. What kind of 'economic' stupidity is this? Then, the masses deteriorated physically because of this abundance to the point where a person was old and worn out at the age of thirty. What kind of scientific stupidity is this? Even the Price System has been able to do better than this, yet here comes Heinrich Hauser and tries to feed us a line that is scientists got control everything will get much worse than it ever was under the old ways. What kind of editors will pass a mess of stupid, fascistic propaganda like that. You'd think they'd have more regard for the reputation of their own magazine and for the common sense of science fiction fans. It seems to us that on this ground alone every science fiction fan in the country has a legitimate occasion to protest to this magazine. (Continued on page 15) page 5
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AN ANALYSIS OF HEINRICH HAUSER'S "TITANS' BATTLE" by Robert B. Langan Editor, Great Lakes Technocrat Amazing Stories for March 1947 presented Heinrich Hauser's most recent contribution to American science fiction. We read the whole story. It was a struggle to get through it, but somehow we did it. The story does not hold one's interest because it is poorly written and far too long for the material it contains. The author's ignorance of the subject he deals with is outstanding. He may know a little about biology, or medicine -- but he is non compos mentis when it comes to psychology, economics, and Technocracy. As a specific example of what we mean, take this gem on page 53: "...hard boiled politicians bowed their heads, confessed their grevious inadequacy, renounced their own rule and handed powers over to a World-Council of Scientists." However, they apparently didn't hand over the political and financial method of operations, or abandon it; for in the next 100 pages Hauser tells a story of a world operated by scientists using the political and business methods instead of the scientific method. All the age-old concepts of power, domination and exploitation are worked overtime by the ruling classes of scientists. Scientists might make that kind of a muddle of social operations, but the application of the scientific method would not. If, as and when the scientific method is applied to social problems there will be no muddling around, no age-old exploitation or maneuvering for power and everything else that accompanies our present method of social operations. If this occurs, it is proof that the scientific method is not being used. What Heinrich Hauser is picturing, then, is a world turned fascist. He is picturing a fantastic projection of fascism ostensibly under the control of science but operated from behind the scene by the elite. In fact, we get a strong impression that Mr. Hauser is putting out a projection of his own suppressed desires: "Titans' Battle" is a wish-fulfillment. There are several grounds for this conclusion: First; the author's name is German. Second; his overlabored effort to inject American slang into the story so as to give it a folksy ring. The slang he uses is all antiquated and out of date. There are numerous examples in the text. Third; his frequent derision of 'inferior' races. This is a typical fascist giveaway. Science recognizes no inferior or superior races. Fourth; his lefthanded laudation of Hitler on page 82 where he says: "Of Hitler the Devil, who always wanted the good and always did the bad." our guess is that Hauser is a German either newly arrived in this country or one who has not been assimilated into the stream of American culture. The whole mess has a foreign ring to it. His ignorance of 'economics' is demonstrated by his continuing to have society operated by Price System methods long after Abundance had been ralized. The Mamlock foods gave all men freedom from want. They could eat six times a day; hours of work got so short that the Senate was hard put to find something for the people to do. Yet all this was carried on by the age old Price System methods of buy and sell. The rich got ever richer but at the same time the masses had Abundance. What kind of 'economic' stupidity is this? Then, the masses deteriorated physically because of this abundance to the point where a person was old and worn out at the age of thirty. What kind of scientific stupidity is this? Even the Price System has been able to do better than this, yet here comes Heinrich Hauser and tries to feed us a line that is scientists got control everything will get much worse than it ever was under the old ways. What kind of editors will pass a mess of stupid, fascistic propaganda like that. You'd think they'd have more regard for the reputation of their own magazine and for the common sense of science fiction fans. It seems to us that on this ground alone every science fiction fan in the country has a legitimate occasion to protest to this magazine. (Continued on page 15) page 5
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