After
"The Master Key," the focus shifts. We now see not only people
within the Polesotechnic League but also the problems
of the League. Thus, although the institution survives an external threat in
Satan's World, its internal problems multiply through "A Little Knowledge" and "Lodestar" and reach a crescendo in
Mirkheim, the first instalment to be collected in Volume III,
Rise Of The Terran Empire. And
that is
our last sight of the League. In fact, the title of Volume III warns readers of a change of historical periods although both League and Empire are regarded as phases of Technic civilization and that civilization will last until the Fall of the Terran Empire some time in Volume VII,
Flandry's Legacy, the Fall to be followed by the Long Night, then by later civilizations. The Technic History is so internally interconnected that it is difficult to refer to one of its parts without referring to every other part. However, I find Volumes I-III particularly intricate and organic.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I thought the idea of carnivorous herbivores in SATAN'S WORLD esp. interesting because of how counterintuitive that seems.
Ad asta! Sean
I have read that herbivores like cows or deer will eat small animals that they find dead. Meat is relatively easy to digest.
The hard part for a herbivore to add meat in substantial quantities to its diet is developing the adaptations to catch prey or chase off other animals from carcasses it might scavenge.
Kaor, Jim!
Yes, but what happened on Shen in SATAN'S W0RLD was very different from such accidental cases as these on Terra.
Ad astra! Sean
Note that chimpanzees adore eating meat; they just don't have the digestive system for it. That's why chimps have big stomachs; they need the extra digestive area to break down the coarse plant foods. We have tiny stomachs and intenstines by comparison.
Our remote ancestors developed that around 2 million years ago, when H. Erectus became an apex predator.
From then until the development of agriculture, most people ate mostly meat of various types; they ate the whole animal, of course, which you need to do to stay healthy. Marrow, internal organs and all.
The ability to digest plant foods was sort of a fallback thing, useful in times of terrible drought or when pushed into a marginal environment.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Our feeble claws and weak teeth must have contributed enormously to our ancestors discovering better means of getting meat.
Carnivorously! Sean
Sean: well, we started using tools at about the same time the modern human body form developed. Wooden spears and clubs are quite sufficient for killing most animals, tho' I wouldn't exactly like to take on a lion that way.
OTOH, I knew a man who stabbed a lion to death with a hunting knife... which means Tarzan was more realistic than most people think.
IIRC there was a tribe in Africa (Maasai?) that had a rite of passage for young men of killing a lion with a spear. I would give better odds for survival to the man with the spear than to the man with just a hunting knife. I doubt there are enough lions for that rite of passage to still be practiced.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Jim!
Falling behind, trying to do a little catching up.
Mr. Stirling: Absolutely! I really, really wouldn't want to tackle a lion with just a knife. Memo: take another look at the first Tarzan books.
Jim: I have a vague recollection of such a rite of passage. And if the History Channel is right, the sons of Achaemenid Persian kings were expected to kill a lion in their early teens with only a spear.
Ad astra! Sean
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