Anderson - shorter: Psychotechnic; longer: Technic.
Blish - shorter: pantropy; longer: Okies.
(ii) For parallels between the culminations of the two shorter future histories, see here.
(iii) In both the Psychotechnic History and the pantropy future history, a spaceship crashes on a planet and the spaceship crew and passengers colonize that planet with one-to-one genetic versions of themselves. Anderson's all women crew must reproduce by parthenogenesis whereas Blish's pantropists contribute germ-cells from which microscopic, aquatic Adapted Men are developed to inhabit fresh water pools.
Anderson's women with the surname Udall become hereditary rulers whereas Blish's la Ventura and Dr Chatvieux become the templates of many generations of leaders called Lavon and thinkers called Shar, respectively.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I can believe in cloning because we KNOW it is possible, without any artificial interventions. Identical twins, for example, are cases of accidental cloning, after all. And animals have been cloned for real--and I fully expect human beings soon will be.
But James Blish's "pantropy" is much harder to swallow! I can't believe human beings can be miniaturized as we see them in "Surface Tension" without them suffering loss in intelligence, ability to bodily survive, etc.
Sean
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