The Miracle Workers

 Jack Vance, The Miracle Workers in Astounding Science Fiction, July 1958.

We often look back to our superstitious ancestors with derision, and the people in this novella are no different; however, Vance has flipped the binary: empirical methods of controlled experimentation become the ancient superstition while jinxmanship and hoodoo are the advanced practice of more civilized and evolved culture.

In many ways, this novella turns the work of David Hume on its head. The Principle of Induction, at the core of scientific practice, becomes a mystical platitude. Experimentation is scoffed at and thought to be childish. The effectiveness of scientific methods would be admitting miracles into our ontology, and we know such things are impossible. 


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