For Love And Glory.
There should have been another post last night but the great god Bacchus intervened. See here.
In FLAG IV, I summarized a lot of information about the Freydisan environment, including Lissa's hopes for the Susaian colony on that planet. However, I did not sufficiently highlight these plans:
"'...microbes that extract and refine minerals, buildings that grow out of the soil...'" (XXXVII, p. 215)
Such nanotechnology, technological manipulation of atoms and molecules, is mentioned in this novel and also in Poul Anderson's Harvest Of Stars Tetralogy. What are the longer term implications of nanotech? A new phase of existence? The end of want and conflict? An "intelligent" environment addressing every need, transmuting waste into oxygen, growing on trees (if we wanted it) fully nutritional food that looked and tasted like cream cakes? Etc?
"'...a civilization not opposed to nature, but integrated with it, both in and of it. Something altogether new. No telling how it will develop, what shapes it will take, what the rest of the galaxy might learn from it.'" (ibid.)
Like the Alori in the Psychotechnic History or the Freeholders in the Technic History?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The cover on the top left of your illustration looks vaguely like THE INFINITE ARENA, ed. by Terry Carr (1977). But I found nothing that resembled the cover on the right.
Not sure when I firs came across the concept of nanotechnology. Perhaps as long ago as THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS (1989) and definitely with four HARVEST OF STARS books.
And I'm impatient for nanotechnology to come into common and widespread use! Why are we STILL making our buildings using such ancient, nay, PREHISTORIC tools, materials, and methods as wood, stone, brick, metal, hammers, saws, carpentry, masonry, etc? We should be GROWING our houses and other building using nanotech by now!
And I still pine for my aircar!!!
Sean
Post a Comment