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"My feeling is that the chance of our surviving into the twenty-first century as working civilization is less than fifty percent but greater than zero."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Neoterics | ||
| Pure engineering genius on tap. |
James Kidder, as the author says, was quite a guy. He pretty much invented everything useful. For Kidder, ninety-nine percent perspiration (like Edison) was not enough.
| This, then, was the answer to his problem. He couldn't speed up mankind's intellectual advancement enough to have it teach him the things his incredible mind yearned for. he couldn't speed himself up. So he created a new race - a race which would develop and evolve so fast that it would surpass the civilization of man; and from them he would learn. They were completely in Kidder's power. Earth's normal atmosphere would poison them, as he took care to demonstrate to every fourth generation... They would make ... their little trial and error experiments hundreds of times faster than man.. He called them Neoterics and teased them into working for him. |
| From Microcosmic God,
by Theodore Sturgeon. Published by Galaxy in 1941 Additional resources -
|
In the story, Kidder puts the Neoterics into life-and-death situations to force them to invent what he needed. The Neoterics were imprisoned in a shatterproof, chemical-proof sealed bubble. When Kidder needed to develop stronger alloys, he arranged for them to have only lighter metals and then started dropping the ceiling on their containment bin one millimeter per day. Only by inventing new alloys and structures could they save themselves from being crushed to death. And they did it!
I was thinking about this one at the Michigan State Fair the other day. My family was looking at the exhibit for honey, with a live bee display. Handy creatures, bees; they work hard all the time and make a unique and useful product.
What if you could have a tiny hive full of creatures who could make something other than honey? What could be sweeter than brilliant ideas?
Compare to the miniature universes from Fessenden's World (1937) by Edmond Hamilton.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Microcosmic God
More Ideas
and Technology by Theodore Sturgeon
Tech news articles related to Microcosmic God
Tech news articles related to works by Theodore Sturgeon
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- E. Coli Forced To Evolve: Old Bacterium Learns New Trick
- Bacteria Torture Tests Demonstrate Evolution
- 'Evolution Chip' Automates Evolved Change
- Phage-Assisted Continuous Evolution
| CIMON Space Sidekick For Weary Astronauts |
| Biomind AI Doctor Mops Floor With Human Doctors |
| MIT Boffins Create Psychopath AI On Purpose |
| China Uses Artificial Intelligence To Grade Student Papers |
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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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'It drew its power from six square yards of sunpower screens on its low curved roof.'
'...lifted themselves to skimming flight upon whirling helicopters."
'Twenty rocket tugs towed it from its Earth hangar out into space.'
I don't need it to go fast, it just needs to amble along.
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time, subtly smoothing, deleting and coloring.'
'... a sound tape to supply the noise'
