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"I'm strictly an ivory-tower person. I can explain things but I can't do things."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| 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. |
| 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.
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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
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Procreative Stump-related
news articles:
- Brain-Dead Pregnant Woman Taken Off Life Support
| Hackers Insert Malware Into DNA |
| Worms Eat Plastic Now |
| Mini-Brains In A Dish |
| NASA's Prototype Lunar Greenhouse For Mars And Moon |
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'Everyone was aware that the damned platform was wandering around in its own orbit...'
'In the crimson darkness, stewing warm on their cushion of peritoneum and gorged with blood-surrogate and hormones...'
'They plop down on the Red and if the dust is deep enough ... they burrow in...'
Little robots cooperating can do big tasks. Eventually.
Ever wonder how you look when you enter a new part of a spacecraft?
