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"One could imagine a very ascetic sort of life ... where the body is ignored. This is something I've played with in my books, where people hate to be reminded sometimes that they have bodies, they find it very slow and tedious."
- William Gibson

Panatrope  
  A device that modifies human dna to ensure survival in harsh alien environments.  

This technovelgy lets the author imagine a future that contains "people" who are barely recognizable as human.

"The panatropes make adaptations, not gods. They take human germ-cells - in this case, our own, since our bank was wiped out in the crash - and modify them toward creatures who can live in any reasonable environment. The result will be manlike and intelligent. It usually shows the donor's personality, too.
Technovelgy from Surface Tension, by James Blish.
Published by Galaxy in 1952
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  More Ideas and Technology from Surface Tension
  More Ideas and Technology by James Blish
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