“What happens when a salt-water fish is transferred into fresh water? It goes into spasms and dies. Consider, then, a creature whose every sense, capability and instinct has been shaped by the natural environment, by interaction with sun, wind, clouds, rain; the look of mountains and far horizons; the taste of natural food; contact with the soil. What happens when this creature is transferred to a synthetic environment? He becomes neurotic, a victim to hysterical fads, willful hallucination, sexual perversion. He deals with abstractions, rather than facts, and so becomes intellectualized and incompetent. “ |
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Jack Vance, The Book of Dreams, Demon Princes, Vol. 5 |
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