Religion? Story-telling? What are those?

This week, in our discussion of Eifelheim, we focused again on what precipitates the failure to communicate, specifically how the Krenken and the Oberhochwald-ers fail to understand each other. The two groups are not only different species, but they inhabit entirely separate stages of development.

What is most staggering about the disconnect between the Krenken and the humans is the fact that the Krenken do not realize how technologically superior they are to the humans. Considering all the fictions humans have made about contact with alien species, one would expect that a space-faring species like the Krenken would have anticipated one day meeting aliens on another planet. Although their technology is sufficiently advanced to make most 14th century Germans think it is "the work of the Devil," their cultural and anthropological thinking seems to be right on 14th century Germany's level. Although Dietrich seems to have a grasp on nearly all scientific and philosophical thought in his time (as well as an uncanny ability to name future technologies) his presence alone shouldn't reassure the Krenken of humanity's competence. Instead they take it for granted that human stories about "God" who comes "from the sky" are literally tales of other space-faring beings who rule Earth.

The Krenken, although they avoid emotion and tend toward rational thought, somehow avoid rationality in relying on something of which they have no knowledge to save them. The Krenken, who apparently lack a story-telling tradition, do not understand the reason for telling fictions. In fact, they would probably be repulsed by the idea of "lying" to one another. They expect any human account of a savior to be literal. Without the cultural knowledge that some primitive peoples have religion, they lack the necessary tools to achieve "understanding" on a level that allows them to leave Earth alive.