Science Fiction
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"A science fiction story is a story built around human beings, with a human problem and a human solution, which would not have happened at all without its scientific content."
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An interesting word; invented by Herbert. It calls to mind words like ghoul (reanimated dead person), ghost and golem (an artificial person made of clay, and then animated by magic). The ghola Duncan Idaho is one of the main characters of the story.
The Bene Tleilax are the only guild or group in the Imperium that uses genetics and gene-manipulation on human beings, and they are distrusted accordingly. They treat human flesh as raw material, building blocks for masterpieces nature never intended. There is an almost medieval flavor to the attitude against them; the forebears of modern doctors had to practice on cadavers in secret, because of religious prejudice against the desecration of the bodily temple.
I can't really give more without telling one of the main themes of the story, but let's just say that the Bene Tleilax do not consider their Duncan Idaho to be finished. You get the sense that the Bene Tleilax are constantly researching and constantly testing to push the boundaries of what is possible with technology. Their only concerns about morality are their concerns about any tool that can be used to shape a person (or a ghola).
The word "ghola" may also have been derived from the Seljuk Turkish term "Ghulam." A ghulam was a slave (by definition, a non-Muslim) educated and trained for state service. This has interesting overtones, since it is assumed that the ghola is a tool of the Tleilaxu. (Thanks, David!) Comment/Join this discussion ( 7 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
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