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"We each live in a somewhat unique world of our own psychological content."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| 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
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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
| 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 |
| Tsunami Forecasts Improved By Ionosphere Signals |
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‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
This is nothing new for science fiction fans!
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
