More about herd men from Bill.McKinley_at_mailhost.dpie.gov.au on 1997-09-03 (Glorantha Digest Vol 05)

From: Bill.McKinley_at_mailhost.dpie.gov.au
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 10:38:09 +1000

                      More about herd men                          3/9/97

Owen Jones shouted into the abyss:
>In practice, living amongst herd men, through contact with the herd men,
>you soon develop a bacterial colony of your own, and can survive on grass
>like the herd men do.

Many years ago, I read a trashy post-apocalyptic science fiction novel in which the cataclysmic disaster (whatever it was) caused some humans to withdraw into themselves, suppress their intelligence, and roam in herds as fixed-INT creatures.

The hero of the novel was sent into a herd, for reasons I no longer remember, and was doing fine until he slipped into the animal-like behaviour of the herd (he was later rescued by his colleagues). One of the herd men broke his leg, and the pain caused his consciousness to reemerge and he screamed for a doctor.

It was, I guess, a commentary on crowd behaviour. It is said, semi-facetiously, that the intelligence of a crowd is equal to the IQ of the lead intelligent member of the crowd divided by the number of people in it.

To follow this idea through, perhaps if you live amongst herd men for long enough you will not only pick up their bacteria, but will also become one of them!

Bill McKinley