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"The trouble with too much genre SF is that it's so obviously the product of the conscious mind."
- William Gibson
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| Procreative Stump | ||
| A woman's torso, kept alive for the purpose of using the womb as an incubator. |
In Hellstrom's Hive, a group of early settlers in America decided to pursue a different evolutionary path. Recognizing the evolutionary success of insects, they sought to emulate them in every way.
If the Hive's interest is best served by maintaining an individual only for the purpose of procreation, why keep and feed all of those unnecessary parts?
| When one of the youngsters asked if they would take the carcass to the vats or try for a procreative stump, he paused for only the briefest reflection before agreeing that they should try for a stump. Perhaps some of that female flesh could be revived and preserved. If her womb could be maintained, she might yet serve the Hive. It would be interesting to see a child of that flesh. |
| Technovelgy from Hellstrom's Hive,
by Frank Herbert. Published by Bantam Books in 1972 Additional resources -
|
Yes, this is a very creepy novel. However, every aspect of the novel is fully realized; the correspondence with modern green movements is eerie. The philosophy part, not the hive part.
Charles Stross uses a similar idea, that of people who are involuntarily and intentionally placed in a paralyzed state, to carry more hosts for the alien horrors from outside space-time.
Compare to synthetic babies from A Biological Experiment (1928) by David H. Keller,
Bokanovski's Process from Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley,
artificial womb from Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley and the
uterine replicator from Shards of Honor (1986) by Lois McMaster Bujold.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Hellstrom's Hive
More Ideas
and Technology by Frank Herbert
Tech news articles related to Hellstrom's Hive
Tech news articles related to works by Frank Herbert
Procreative Stump-related
news articles:
- Brain-Dead Pregnant Woman Taken Off Life Support
| Black Fungus Blocks Radiation |
| Lunar Biorepository Proposed For Cryo-Preservation Of Earth Species |
| Let's Make Slaver Sunflowers! Engineering Plants To Reflect Light |
| Machete-Wielding Philodendron Isn't Going To Take It Anymore |
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'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...'
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...'
'The car faltered as the external command came to brake...'
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized...'
