At 11:55 AM 6/28/01 -0400 David Hobby wrote:
>> Certainly, the Lerner cadet enjoys the financial and technological backing
>> of the rest of the Clan - but do cadets ever decide to declare
>> independence? What if a particularly prosperous cadet wanted to found her
>> own lineage?
>
> This is nonsense. She can't found her own lineage, since
>her clone children will still be in the original lineage. Now a
>lineage COULD split into warring factions. I doubt that is likely,
>though. (Do identical twins fight less than other siblings?)
My guess is that they do not. After all, they are still two individuals.
Brin doesn't seem to leave us much mention of intra-clan warfare or
disagreement though.
>> Maia wonders on pg 161 whether sex might not be greater than the sum of its
>> parts. It occurs to me that *love*, as we understand it anyhow, is
>> completely absent in Stratoian society.
>
> Not completely. It is still common for men and women to form
>somewhat exclusive bonds. They just don't live together. (Hey, that
>might not be such a bad idea! : ) )
Do you have any cite for this sort of exclusive bond? I've been wracking
my brain and can't think of a reference.
>> -Genetic engineering has also produced an effect whereby the sex drive does
>> not start taking hold until later in life. (pg 161) The sex drive is also
>> apparently increased after one's first time.
>
> Not really. I believe that what was engineered was that women
>would not usually be fertile until they were completely grown, and then
>it was easier to have a clone child than a var. After this has been
>done, the sex drive would change because of evolutionary pressure.
>(Although you remember my earlier doubts on how strong this pressure
>would actually be!)
After reading GS 8, you seem to have gotten the first-part right. A
woman's fertility increases slowly from the age of 6 to the age of 8. The
Founders did one thing right, in that they delayed puberty until @18, and
delayed the full onslaught of the sex drive and fertility until @24 years.
Personally, I think this would be a welcome advance for our society,
where currently individuals reach puberty in their early teens at the
latest, and probably won't marry until some 15 years later.
>> -What are the remaining six computerized devices? We know of Net
>> Terminals, Solar Railroads, and the Game of Life. (pg 155)
>
> I don't see why solar implies computers. A lot of stuff
>is solar. (Remember the comment about going into a fight with
>"all panels charged"? The metaphor shows the prevalence of solar
>panels.)
True. But I believe that the *tracks* themselves had a computerized
component.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
We are products of the same history, reaching from Jerusalem and
Athens to Warsaw and Washington. We share more than an alliance.
We share a civilization. - George W. Bush, Warsaw, 06/15/01
