#nexialism

[oldschoolsciencefiction]

The Nexialist approach: Van Vogt and the idea that specialisation is for insects

On a term that’s unfamiliar to most, but best describes what many generalists are doing.

A short article on pulp science fiction author A.E. van Vogt’s prescient interdisciplinary “expert generalist” system of academic integration he dubbed “nexialism”.

[nexial]

The Nexialist's advice is never deferred to in the crises which imperil the Beagle's crew, which in the allegory stands for all the human race; but in the end it is the Nexialist's advice which is taken and which destroys the menace. Significant in the allegory is the fact that in every crisis the men who represent the conventional disciplines fly off in all different directions, with nothing in common to hold them together. The success of the Nexialist in overwhelming the obstacles is a direct result of his ability to correlate and co-ordinate fragments of the basic knowledge of all departments of learning. And without him the crew would perish. What this means is clear. Faced, as the world is, with problems which appear insoluble, and advancing to meet them with our vast knowledge cut up into little pieces and parceled out among the departments of the college faculty, what we need is the development of the kind of scholar who will be able to absorb the essentials of all fields of study and apply what he learns to the solution of the race's present difficulties.

'The Case for Nexialism' - Sam Sacket's review of 'Voyage of the Space Beagle' (originally published in Grundtvig Review, No. 7, May 1957, pp. 29-36) - http://vanvogt.www4.mmedia.is/nexialism.htm