Re: Help needed with expletives

John F. Eldredge <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:33:40 +0100, Jonathan L Cunningham wrote:

John F. Eldredge <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Well, in the context of the story, at least, it is true. The local
people have a mutation such that a boy about to reach the age of
puberty has to consume a one-time concentrated dose of male hormones in
order for puberty to occur. If he doesn't consume the hormones, he
will never become fertile himself. The higher-tech folks from
off-planet, once they learn the situation, decide to start importing
synthetic hormones.

I haven't read the story, but I can't see that working: they'd die out,
unless one testicle was sufficient. Otherwise you'd only get one fertile
adult male per pair of fertile adult male testicles consumed, and there
would be lossage, accidental death etc., leading over time to an
inexorable decrease in fertile males until there were insufficient to
maintain the population.

Besides, (a) why wouldn't bull testicles do? and (b) is there any reason
to suppose there would be a noticeably higher concentration of a hormone
in the organs that secrete it? I thought the whole point of hormones was
that they circulated in the blood. In which case, eating a larger amount
of some other anatomical parts (e.g. the lean meat) ought to work just
as well.

I think the story premise would irritate me.

Jonathan

As I recall from the story, more was eaten than just the testicles. I
think that muscle meat and internal organs were eaten as well. I do
remember that the flesh of one man was enough for more than one boy.

Ah, well, ok then. It still doesn't explain why it has to be cannibalism
(rather than eating beef, say) but it sounds like it was merely an
attempt to set up a situation where cannibalism was necessary for the
society to survive.

It would be a lot easier to do that in a fantasy setting than in an SF
setting.

I expect I'd have to read the story to see the point of it: but then,
cannibalism doesn't shock me. Maybe cannibalism *was* the point. Or
perhaps ritual(?) murder.

I was watching a documentary on TV, and the (British) presenter was
sampling dog meat in China - or rather, he wasn't, as he couldn't bring
himself to do it. It's not an attitude I have a lot of sympathy with (or
empathy with). I know that some people consider it shocking that anyone
would eat dog meat, but that just seems to me to be discrimination
against all the species they *will* eat. I have no urge to eat human
flesh, but I think I'd find it easier than eating beetles or
caterpillars, if circumstances warranted it. (I'm not sure I could bring
myself to kill human meat first, though, whereas I would have few qualms
about killing beetles or caterpillars. Weird, eh?)

I think my attitude is similar to that of Valentine Michael Smith in
_Stranger in a Strange Land_ -- a dead body is just spoilt meat. The
person is no longer there.

Jonathan
.

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