Re: Humans as raccoons?

On Sat, 03 May 2008 11:09:03 -0700, Mike Schilling wrote:

Gene wrote:

Mark Stephen <mstephen@xxxxxxx> wrote in
news:KYKdnWgBK8vL5YHVnZ2dnUVZ_hynnZ2d@xxxxxxx:

I'm a little surprised this idea never comes up in the interminable
evolution threads. I have three dogs, a border collie, an Irish
flat-coat retriever and a Great Pyrenees. They differ wildly in
size,
appearance, temperament and intelligence, and these traits seem to
have been established in only a few generations. AFAIK, the only sf
novel with a cultural background which would allow this sort of
experimentation on humans by humans was _Iron Dream_, but is this
sort of selective breeding with humans actually impossible, or
merely
unethical and kinda disgusting?

Thinking back, Doc Smith?

Honor Harrington.

Vance's "The Dragon Masters".

Also in his "Durdane" trilogy, with a will, both the human "Palasedrans"
and the non-human "Asutra" running their various breeding and modification
programs.

And in his "Planet of Adventure" series likewise, with pretty much every
alien species involved having an auxiliary population of human workers,
bred to resemble that species as closely as possible for the most part.

And probably in several others of his-- right off the top of my head, ISTR
something of the sort in his early and crude novel (the protagonists'
characters were cartoonish) _The Nine Gold Bands_.

And it wouldn't be surprising if something of the sort popped up
somewhere along the way in either of his "Big Planet" novels.

--

Decorum, after all, was a more subtle and ultimately more
satisfactory weapon than high feelings and improper conduct.

< Jack Vance



.

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