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Yhos, whole no. 13, 1944
Page 4
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the writers involved, & not of Campbell. Of course he could ban them, but I believe he is doing the best thing by bringing them out in the open for our inspection. The first trend is a reversion to Mediaeval metaphysics under a cloak of advanced science. All the elements of supernaturalism, deductive thinking, & primitive fear psychology are delicately treated in a super-scientific setting so that the reader does not realize that he is reading a metaphysical plot. Let us examine a few samples: Raymond F Jones's "Fifty Million Monkeys" (Oct 43) was extraordinarily good, & brought forward several new, important & workable scientific ideas. One good idea was the use of a brain tema of congenial research men to work on a problem. I have seen one such brain team in action which successfully solved a difficult problem. The brain team is no longer extant, but it worked while it was in operation. In mathematical probability we investigate the most probable values, P, & pay little attention to the last probably, or q values. Jones's story was based on the use, prediction interpretation & integration of all the q values. I had not noticed this formulation before in fiction. It is very clever, & damn significant. In research work in the laboratory, whenever p values fail, then as much information as possible is obtained from q values, ie, negative data which was known to be negative even before it was run! The trend of negative data is oftentimes just as significant as the trend of positive data. Then to mess things up Jones brought in the wholly extraneous & unnecessary "light creature", which had all the elements of the supernatural. Why such a good story should be handicapped by the light creature is a mystery. (Amen - ed.) A E VanVogt's "Weapon Makers" (Feb, March & Apr 43) easily fits into one of the best 100 stf stories during the last ten years. The plot con-
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the writers involved, & not of Campbell. Of course he could ban them, but I believe he is doing the best thing by bringing them out in the open for our inspection. The first trend is a reversion to Mediaeval metaphysics under a cloak of advanced science. All the elements of supernaturalism, deductive thinking, & primitive fear psychology are delicately treated in a super-scientific setting so that the reader does not realize that he is reading a metaphysical plot. Let us examine a few samples: Raymond F Jones's "Fifty Million Monkeys" (Oct 43) was extraordinarily good, & brought forward several new, important & workable scientific ideas. One good idea was the use of a brain tema of congenial research men to work on a problem. I have seen one such brain team in action which successfully solved a difficult problem. The brain team is no longer extant, but it worked while it was in operation. In mathematical probability we investigate the most probable values, P, & pay little attention to the last probably, or q values. Jones's story was based on the use, prediction interpretation & integration of all the q values. I had not noticed this formulation before in fiction. It is very clever, & damn significant. In research work in the laboratory, whenever p values fail, then as much information as possible is obtained from q values, ie, negative data which was known to be negative even before it was run! The trend of negative data is oftentimes just as significant as the trend of positive data. Then to mess things up Jones brought in the wholly extraneous & unnecessary "light creature", which had all the elements of the supernatural. Why such a good story should be handicapped by the light creature is a mystery. (Amen - ed.) A E VanVogt's "Weapon Makers" (Feb, March & Apr 43) easily fits into one of the best 100 stf stories during the last ten years. The plot con-
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