Recognition World
Nov. 6th, 2006 11:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqI used to be a huge ElfQuest fan. I still like the original story, but after seriously overdosing on it, I find I can only read the original "classic" story.
One of the concepts I always liked from EQ was that of recognition. Recognition (to quote the Wikipedia article above) was "a kind of psionic 'matchmaking' effect that forces the elves to mate, in hopes of breeding children, and often results in a lifelong pair-bonding known as 'life-mating' if the elves are compatible with one another in temperament."
I recently thought that this would make a good speculative fiction story. The following is the rather detailed premise:
1) Aside from the addition of recognition, it is the real world, not the ElfQuest World of Two Moons.
2) On one day in the very recent past, every human who is able gains perfect knowledge of their life-mate. If it's someone they know or knew, they will remember or otherwise have the detailed knowledge necessary to find them. If they don't, they will simply have an image of what the person looks like, as well as a very general sense of where to find them.
3) The people who gain this insight are those that are sufficiently mature to maintain such a relationship and for whom a compatible partner exists.
4) Each pair would be most compatible with each other in as many ways as possible - intellectually, emotionally and sexually. Therefore there could be life-mates who were gay or asexual, as well as heterosexual. Other, rarer possibilities exist so long as the couple were mature and compatible.
5) Despite this, recognition is not a "free pass" and people would still have to work at their relationships. They would have a terrific head start though as well as not having to second-guess their choices.
6) This is a pair-bonding - there are no poly relationships of this nature. Presumably people who identify as poly-amorous would pair with others like themselves, allowing for non-recognition secondary relationships.
7) People who subsequently "qualify" would recognize, presumably because both halves of the pair-bond age sufficiently. This is a permanent change to human nature rather then a one-time thing.
8) When one half of the pair dies, the other half knows it.
Nothing else should be read-into recognition. The relationship is not blessed in any way - you could literally recognize your mate seconds before they die in a plane crash.
My intent for the story is to have the protagonist, who is searching for his life-mate, explore this radically changed world. To that end I would like feedback - what are some logical implications of this world's base assumptions.
One of the concepts I always liked from EQ was that of recognition. Recognition (to quote the Wikipedia article above) was "a kind of psionic 'matchmaking' effect that forces the elves to mate, in hopes of breeding children, and often results in a lifelong pair-bonding known as 'life-mating' if the elves are compatible with one another in temperament."
I recently thought that this would make a good speculative fiction story. The following is the rather detailed premise:
1) Aside from the addition of recognition, it is the real world, not the ElfQuest World of Two Moons.
2) On one day in the very recent past, every human who is able gains perfect knowledge of their life-mate. If it's someone they know or knew, they will remember or otherwise have the detailed knowledge necessary to find them. If they don't, they will simply have an image of what the person looks like, as well as a very general sense of where to find them.
3) The people who gain this insight are those that are sufficiently mature to maintain such a relationship and for whom a compatible partner exists.
4) Each pair would be most compatible with each other in as many ways as possible - intellectually, emotionally and sexually. Therefore there could be life-mates who were gay or asexual, as well as heterosexual. Other, rarer possibilities exist so long as the couple were mature and compatible.
5) Despite this, recognition is not a "free pass" and people would still have to work at their relationships. They would have a terrific head start though as well as not having to second-guess their choices.
6) This is a pair-bonding - there are no poly relationships of this nature. Presumably people who identify as poly-amorous would pair with others like themselves, allowing for non-recognition secondary relationships.
7) People who subsequently "qualify" would recognize, presumably because both halves of the pair-bond age sufficiently. This is a permanent change to human nature rather then a one-time thing.
8) When one half of the pair dies, the other half knows it.
Nothing else should be read-into recognition. The relationship is not blessed in any way - you could literally recognize your mate seconds before they die in a plane crash.
My intent for the story is to have the protagonist, who is searching for his life-mate, explore this radically changed world. To that end I would like feedback - what are some logical implications of this world's base assumptions.
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 08:37 am (UTC)Does recognizing your life mate mean that you're instantly in love with them? What is the force that drives you to find him or her? Do some people know that their life mate is out there and not give a hoot?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 02:03 pm (UTC)Yeah there would be major social upheavels, which I plan on exploring. The simplist case would be a couple who both recognize other people and decide to let each other go to pursue their lifemates. Less simple would be when only one half of a couple gets this impulse. If the other half doesn't recognize anyone they will simply not understand why the other person is leaving. Expect a lot of violence and misunderstanding as humanity learns to cope with the only change to human nature in history. And that's just in the liberal countries like Canada. Imaine how bad it could get in, say, Saudi Arabia.
Is it love? No, though love would bloom quickly. Think of it as certain knowledge that this person will become your love.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 02:13 pm (UTC)Lifemating is a transitive relationship. If Adam recognizes Eve, then Eve recognizes Adam. Eve does not recognize Barney instead of (or in addition to) Adam.
Many of the people who make the law will be similarly affected, so society will eventually cope. it would be a great world to live in - in a generation or two. Now, not so much as it would be "interesting times".
Would the Roman Catholic church relax divorce laws after this happens? Would they relax the rules on priestly celibacy? How about after the Pope recognizes someone?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 02:15 pm (UTC)Religious Implications
Date: 2006-11-07 02:25 pm (UTC)I'm going to assume that Quixote's group that are "able" to pair bond is a relatively small subset of the population - say 5%-8%.
Second, I'm going to further assume that once someone becomes "aware" of their life-mate, that any existing relationship will collapse shortly as the newly aware person begins to seek out their mate. (I may be inferring a drive here that Quixote doesn't intend)
Third, I'm going to couch this in terms of our local (North American) context - and in particular, I'm going to play around with Evangelical Fundamentalism...(because it presents so many "fun" possibilities for a "systemic adversary")
A sudden spike in relationship failure will be noticed primarily by zealous religious groups - especially as members of their flock abandon the highly regulated world of "church law". (Many fundamentalist churches are pseudo-legalistic in their approach to most things)
These groups will deem that pair bonding, especially when it breaks an existing religious marriage covenant, is a moral failing and should be condemned.
Once they learn that there's more to it - a strong internal drive of some kind that the bible doesn't describe - they will begin to attack it the way that evangelical groups attack homosexuals - "pray it away". Try and convince pair-bond aware people that they can "live normal lives" if they pray hard enough.
Other Christian denominations (e.g. United Church) will see it quite differently and may well use the change to justify dropping much of the legalistic aspects of Old Testament scripture in favour of a more allegorical interpretation of New Testament.
The Pope in Rome will condemn divorce and call for massive restrictions on divorce, threatening Catholic politicians with excommunication should they fail to act on his decree. There will be a sudden increase in the number of excommunicate Catholics in North America...
Re: Religious Implications
Date: 2006-11-07 03:09 pm (UTC)Would that stop the scenario you describe? Not if there is a negative correlation between "reactionary asshat" and "abilty to sustain a mature relationship". Then it becomes more likely as the Fred Phelps of the world refuse to believe the experience that everyone else is having. Hell, it would only convince them more that they are on the right path to God and everyone else was going to hell.
I think what would happen would be a lot of double standards. My life-mating is right and true but your life-mating is an abomination and should be banned.
Certainly this could be made a metaphor for what GLBT's experience now, though that was not my original intention.
Re: Religious Implications
Date: 2006-11-07 03:28 pm (UTC)It wasn't where I started either when I read your post - I initially came up with something derived from Le Guin's "Left Hand of Darkness". It was Garething's question about religion that brought the rather obvious real-world metaphor forward.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-08 12:54 am (UTC)Assuming that the same mechanism is taking place with humans. Pair bonding within a culture helps perpetuate that culture. We may see cultures at risk (or having been scattered) being drawn together to renew themselves with perhaps some fresh blood in invigorate them.
If we have a significant number of pair bondings between between two different cultures that settle in the same locale it may help create a new, hybrid culture. Alternatively, it may bring peace to a region in conflict as a majority of people find their lifemates amoung the enemy. Or one group in the region finds itself left alone as the other groups get dispersed around the world.
Which brings to mind another aspect of recognition. I have heard various people say upon visiting some region or other that they felt at home there or that was were they belonged. Perhaps some individuals or pair bonds may be drawn to (or away from ) specific places.
Remember: Traditionally, marriage is a union between two people to create or reinforce political, social, economic and/or religious ties between two groups and also to increase the size of either one or both of the groups. As such, recognition may be very disruptive to cultures that use marriage ties to maintain themselves. Or such cultures may adapt such that most of the year is dutifully spent with one's legal spouse and during certain holidays one wears a masque to visit one's recognized partner. Or the heartache as one of the pair bond refuses to accept recognition in order to remain faithful to their marriage. Or perhaps the marriage is intact and the incoming recognized person becomes a junior wife or husband or mistress or (what is the male equivalent of mistress?).
Disruptive cultures or ones that have significant contributions to the race may find themselves dispersed around the world population to either eradicate the culture or to spread the contributions throughout the world.
Imagine the changes to North American society if a few million people from here were drawn to Eastern Europe or Northern Africa to find their partners amoung the refugees or otherwise troubled populations and bring them back. Think of the governmental paperwork! Or think of the traffic jams as half of India (and/or China) heads for Africa, Europe and North and South America. And another quarter of the Indian population heading into China whilst a quarter of the Chinese head to India. How many people in North Korea would be heading elsewhere? Or how many people would be heading into North Korea.
There is no reason why all of the above situations may not be occurring at the same time in different regions of the world.
Note that I am ignoring for the moment what is fuelling this phenomenon. It may be the human mass subconscious or the gods or aliens or a human group mind that has formed and is directing (consciously or not) the rest of the species.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-08 01:17 am (UTC)Depending on when and where your story takes place.
Is your protagonist one of the first to go hunting their lifemate? Which will make it easier in some ways (less traffic) and harder in others (no one to help with unknown, overwhelming feelings).
Is your protagonist going to be amoung the enormous mass migrations as the greatest number of new recognitions occur? "Please! I need to get on this ship!" "Yes, you and thousands of others, now go away!"
How about a year or two after the peak has caused a collapse in various governments and does chaos reign?
In what country is your protagonist from? Their lifemate? What countries do you have to go through?
Will your story occur twenty years after the peak of the recognitions and will you be exploring the changes in the various societies around the world?
Or how about a couple of generations down the line as new sub-cultures are formed and current cultures are altered?
What happens to the latest Bonnie and Clyde team who are locked up in different prisons when they are suddenly taken with recognition?
Which governments will recognize recognition as a basis of immigration/emigration and which will not. Will there be quotas?
Will the protagonist's spouse suddenly take off on a recognition quest and will they be following, trying to get the spouse back for the sake of the children?
What about our protagonist when they find out their partner comes complete with a dozen children and an extended family?
How rich is our protagonist, travelling by airbus or tramp freighter. Crossing paths with their lifemate heading in the opposite direction? "Captain, you have to turn around!" "I will, as soon as we reach our destination and load up for the return journey."
Then there is the fifty year old protagonist, seeing everybody hitching up except themself, not realizing that their lifemate is an eight-year-old somewhere in the world that needs to grow up before recognition can occur.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-08 07:12 am (UTC)A booming business arises in 'de-programming'. Cults arise out of the phenomenon. Gay Pride parades are swallowed up by the Recognition Revolution. Lawyers make fortunes by obfuscating the tangles of divine desire. And don't forget about puppy love. You know that critter at the kennel that you just have to have once you set eyes upon it.
Speaking of which, why does this phenomenon only affect humans. . . .?
Controlled or uncontrolled?
Date: 2006-11-08 08:05 pm (UTC)Imagine the possibilities for havoc if that was the case with over 50% of the population getting the urge to find some unidentified needed piece for their life. An addiction to something they don't know is actually someone. Just an unending itch to be somehwre else.
LIke a mental magnetic geiger counter that feels better (or worse) the closer you get to the subject, culminating in a frenzy of public affection that the rest of the 'unloved' world isn't quite prepared for.
I could see scientific research into it, some scientists doing it in a very durogatory fashion (think experimentation) Others developing communities of 'en lightened lovers' and others who strive to protect their borders from within and without Muslim women trekking out of the middle east to Europe... How much control would the governments have, and how much control would they try to exert before it affects political stability?
(if both parties have the syndrom, which one is the 'base' and which is the mover, or is it like magnetic marbles rolling towards each other?)
And, lastly, when would your story take place? At the beginning of the syndrom, after ten years or after twenty?
And (not quite last but close) would you consider what the main reason for this occuring? Would you explore outside influences upon the planet that is trying to exerrt control for a variety of reasons? (to help mankind develop the necessary skills to survive a major calamity in a hundred years, to make mankind more pliable or the awakening of a hive mind, all bent on breeding the most apropriate human genome)
Re: Religious Implications
Date: 2006-11-13 05:12 am (UTC)A stigma could develop after awhile (i.e. after a generation or two). Initially, too many people will be in denial. You couldn't tell the people ignoring their knowledge from those who simply haven't recognized.
Conversely, a lack of recognition so far does not necessarily mean a lack of recognition forever.