A World of Talent
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A World of Talent is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, October 1954.
[edit] Plot
The story is set on a separatist Earth colony where the society is becoming dominated by mutants with psionic abilities. The colony is protected from Earth by an enormously powerful, but infantile, mutant called Big Noodle. The central character is a precog, Cris Purcell, who uncovers the existence of 'anti-psi's' - humans who are immune to interference by psionic mutants. He attempts to get the still human led government to officially recognize the anti-psi's, knowing that this could balance out the corrupting power that the psi's would soon possess over the rest of humanity. However, he is thwarted by the powerful psi Corps of mutants, who murder his anti-psi lover, Pat. Cris has a son, Tim, who though seemingly a 'normal', is actually the ultimate precog, with the ability to travel in time. In the end, Tim appears to his father from the future, telling him that he was right about the need to balance the power of the psi's.
[edit] Notes
- Dick very much disliked the insistence of people like John W. Campbell, that stories should positively portray psionics (beings with extrasensory powers as telepathy, telekinesis and precognition). This story was one of his replies, showing the price of these talents, and the distorted personalities that could result - chiefly through the perspective of a withdrawn little boy.
- The character of Tim is a precursor to Manfred Steiner, a character in Dicks's 1964 novel, Martian Time-Slip.
- Philip K. Dick's 1969 novel Ubik contained characters who were anti-psis.
The Cookie Lady · Stability · Roog · Project: Earth · Expendable · The Little Movement · The Preserving Machine · The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford · Beyond Lies the Wub · The Gun · The Skull · The Defenders · Mr. Spaceship · Piper In The Woods · The Infinities · The Indefatigable Frog · The Variable Man · The Crystal Crypt · The Builder · Meddler · Paycheck · Out In The Garden · The Great C · The King Of The Elves · Colony · Prize Ship · Nanny · Beyond the Door · Second Variety · Jon's World · The Cosmic Poachers · Some Kinds of Life · Progeny · Martians Come In Clouds · The Commuter · The World She Wanted · A Surface Raid · The Trouble with Bubbles · A Present for Pat · Breakfast at Twilight · Of Withered Apples · The Hood Maker · Human Is · The Impossible Planet · Adjustment Team · Impostor · James P. Crow · Planet For Transients · Small Town · Souvenir · Survey Team · Vulcan's Hammer · Prominent Author · Fair Game · The Hanging Stranger · The Eyes Have It · Time Pawn · The Golden Man · The Turning Wheel · The Last of the Masters · The Father-thing · Strange Eden · A Glass of Darkness · Tony and the Beetles · Null-O · Exhibit Piece · To Serve the Master · The Crawlers · Sales Pitch · Shell Game · Upon the Dull Earth · Foster, You're Dead! · Pay for the Printer · War Veteran · The Chromium Fence · Misadjustment · A World of Talent · Psi-man Heal My Child! · Service Call · Autofac · Captive Market · The Mold of Yancy · Minority Report · The Unreconstructed M · Recall Mechanism · Explorers We · War Game · If There Were No Benny Cemoli · Novelty Act · Waterspider · What the Dead Men Say · Orpheus with Clay Feet · Stand-by · The Days of Perky Pat · What'll We Do With Ragland Park? · Oh, to be a Blobel! · All We Marsmen · The War with the Fnools · Cantata 140 · A Game of Unchance · The Little Black Box · Precious Artifact · The Unteleported Man · Retreat Syndrome · Project Plowshare · Faith of our Fathers · We Can Remember It For You Wholesale · Holy Quarrel · Your Appointment Will Be Yesterday · Return Match · Not By Its Cover · The Story To End All Stories · The Electric Ant · A. Lincoln, Simulacrum · Cadbury, the Beaver Who Lacked · The Different Stages Of Love · A Little Something For Us Tempunauts · The Pre-persons · The Eye of The Sibyl · The Exit Door Leads In · Chains Of Air, Web Of Aethyr · Strange Memories Of Death · I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon · Rautavaara's Case · Fawn, Look Back · The Alien Mind · The Day Mr. Computer Fell Out Of Its Tree · Goodbye, Vincent · 11-17-80 · The Name of the Game is Death
