| "A World of Talent" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author | Philip K. Dick |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Published in | Galaxy Science Fiction |
| Publication date | October 1954 |
| "A World of Talent" | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Author | Philip K. Dick |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Published in | Galaxy Science Fiction |
| Publication date | October 1954 |
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, Curtis or Curt, who uncovers the existence of 'anti-psi's' - humans with the ability to cancel out or nullify the powers of the psionic mutants.
He attempts to get the non-psychic or 'Norm'-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. He is thwarted, however, by the powerful psi Corps of mutants, who murder his anti-psi lover, Patricia Ann Connley or Pat.
Curt has a young son, Tim, who, though seemingly a somewhat autistic, untalented 'norm', is actually the ultimate precog. This is due to both his ability to travel in time and his power to change the course of events as well. In the end, an older 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. His compassion for his father in the wake of Curt's recent loss compels him to alter the timeline in a very specific way.
The Marvel Universe is a fictional universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and many Marvel superheroes live in this universe, including characters such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Captain America, Wolverine, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Captain Marvel and Deadpool, among numerous others. It also contains well-known supervillains such as Doctor Doom, Magneto, Ultron, Thanos, Loki, Green Goblin, Kang the Conqueror, Kingpin, Doctor Octopus and Venom.
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"The Minority Report" is a 1956 science fiction novella by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in Fantastic Universe. In a future society, three mutants foresee all crime before it occurs. Plugged into a great machine, these "precogs" allow a division of the police called Precrime to arrest suspects before they can commit any actual crimes. When the head of Precrime, John Anderton, is himself predicted to murder a man whom he has never met, Anderton is convinced a great conspiracy is afoot.
In American science fiction of the 1950s and '60s, psionics was a proposed discipline that applied principles of engineering to the study of paranormal or psychic phenomena, such as telepathy and psychokinesis. The term is a compound formed from psi and the -onics from electronics. The word "psionics" began as, and always remained, a term of art within the science fiction community and—despite the promotional efforts of editor John W. Campbell, Jr—it never achieved general currency, even among academic parapsychologists. In the years after the term was coined in 1951, it became increasingly evident that no scientific evidence supports the existence of "psionic" abilities.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, psionics are a form of supernatural power similar to, but distinct from, arcane and divine magic.
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Danielle "Dani" Moonstar, originally codenamed Psyche and later Mirage, is a fictional Northern Cheyenne superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in the graphic novel The New Mutants, created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod. The character is usually depicted as associated with the New Mutants.
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Exodus is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Joe Quesada, he first appeared in X-Factor #92. His real name was initially given as Paris Bennett, but this was uncovered as an alias when he was revealed to have been born in 12th-century France under the name of Bennet Du Paris.
Psi-Force was a comic book series created by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson and published by Marvel Comics under their New Universe imprint from 1986 to 1989. It ran for 32 issues and an Annual.
Mentallo is a fictional supervillain, a mutant appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. After having been fired for cause after attempting a covert S.H.I.E.L.D. takeover, he has since operated as both a freelance criminal and subversive and a high-ranking agent of HYDRA. He is usually depicted as using technology to increase his power.
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Psionics, in tabletop role-playing games, is a broad category of fantastic abilities originating from the mind, similar to the psychic abilities that some people claim in reality.
A Gift From Earth is a science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven, first published in 1968 and set in his Known Space universe. The novel was originally serialized as "Slowboat Cargo".
To Ride Pegasus is a collection of four science fiction stories by American writer Anne McCaffrey, published by Ballantine Books in 1973 and later under its Del Rey imprint. "To Ride Pegasus" is also the title of the novella, the first of the four stories that was original to the collection.
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