James Blish's anti-agathics are a number of drugs that counteract different aspects of the aging process whereas Anderson's antithanatic is a single synthetic virus which attacks any cells that do not conform to the host's genetic code. Biochemistries of intelligent species vary so greatly that an aging preventive cannot always be found but, where it can be found, it is obviously a good trade item.
(The attached image shows a good collection of Blish's works.)
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
But a major problem of being able to more or less live indefinitely is the limited capacity of our brains for storing memories. After about a thousand years Anderson thought we would become insane or senile. I think I first came across that idea in either WORLD WITHOUT STARS or "Pact."
I loved "Pact"! An ingenious inversion of the pact with the Devil trope.
Ad astra! Sean
Your memories don't record everything, though. They're highly selective; in fact, memories are "reconstituted" every time they're recalled.
They're also selectively edited, and outright illusions are often "recorded" as memories too.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, and I try to watch out against that, inserting false memories into my real memories.
But I thought our brains/minds does have only limited informing storage capacity.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: it's not infinite, but memory is self-editing.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
So we can sort of "delete" old memories and make "room" for new memories?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: probably. We don't remember routine things nearly as much -- they don't get shifted from short-term to long-term memory.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
So that medical memory editing we see mentioned in WORLD WITHOUT STARS might not be necessary?
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment