View source for Null-A

{{fancy2|text=
Non-Aristotelian logic; specifically, [[Alfred Korzybski]]'s [[General Semantics]]. It’s multivalued rather'n two-valued, hence much better suited for showing off the hero's mental agility. [[A. E. van Vogt|Van Vogt]] popularized Korzybski's doctrines in one of his more impressive save-the-world-with-a-gimmick sagas, the ''World of Null-A'' -- ''Players of Null-A'' series<ref>Originally published as ''The World of Ā'' (August-October 1945 ''[[Astounding]]'') and ''The Pawns of Null-A'' (October 1948-January 1949 ''Astounding'').</ref> [symbol A with line above it read "null-A"], tho the chief null-A discipline practiced by hero Gosseyn is not mentioned by Korzybski: the cortico-thalamic pause, in which the rational cortex is "integrated" into control of the emotional thalamus, whereat semantically clever words sound forth. ([[Wrai Ballard]] was often disappointed when Gosseyn performed this maneuver; he kept expecting somebody to clout G over the head in the middle of it. Nobody ever did.) As you'd expect in a [[pulp]]yarn, however, the hero wins not by application of [[philosophic]] principles but -- in this case -- by developing the double brain (a group of nervelike cells, not a second thinking mind) he possesses to such a point that it can be used to control matter and energy and [[goshwow]] (also). 
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{{fiction|start=1945}}
[[Category:fancy2]]
[[Category:obscure_fact]]
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Null-Ā}}