On Thu, 9 Sep 2004 20:12:07 -0700 (PDT), Maru <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > After reading the whole of Brin's Uplift novels, I find myself puzzled by something: > Why undertake the massive, expensive, intricate, and morally tricky process of > Uplift at all? There must be some intrinsic reason (that is, you can't say 'Because > the Progenitors did'. Then why did they begin the process?). Creating more > sentients can't be the answer because then it would be far more efficient to > multiply your own kind. Creating specialties (like dolphins would have been turned > into ebcause of their piloting skills) seems grossly inefficent, and again morally > questionable. 'Prestige' (power) could only be a reason once the system is in place > and generally accepted. Thus far, I can only see two viable reasons- it might be > done for the purposes of having, to put it baldly, a slave species or more > altruistically, to gain the benefit of another world-view's advice and > thinking-style. The formers is unjustifiable and the latter seems unlikely. Has > Brin esposed any feasibl e > explanations that I've completely missed or could someone help me out here? I'd be > grateful for a defintive answer on this nagging question.
My take on why the humans did it: Because they could. I have no doubt that if today we could produce human-level intelligent chimps or dolphins through genetic engineering and breeding programs, etc, that someone'd be doing it. At first perhaps just for the scientific knowledge, further on, perhaps for filling roles they are well adapted to, and in the end, because they discovered the galactic civilization revolved around uplift. As for why the galactics did it: I'm thinking the Progenitors did it for the company, (presumably they were alone in the universe). Dr. Brin touches on this theme of loneliness in his great short story "The Crystal Spheres" (one of my favorites). In another story (on his web site, I think), humans realize that they are biologically unsuited to go out and expand into the universe, so they "adopt" AI's or robots (I forget the exact details) to instill human nature in them, and it is those "children" that will explore the stars. As for the later galactics, I think for them it is instilled tradition and established science, with many benefits and low risks. They think for the ultra long-term and see their clients in a way as essentially their children and eventual inheritors. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
