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"The world is really so surreal these days that it's necessary for us to blunt it somehow in order to stay sane. The artist functions to short-circuit the buffering mechanism, so that people can occasionally perceive the weirdness of things as they are."
- William Gibson
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| Butcher Vegetable | ||
| A plant that grows steaks (protein). |
In the novel, people with paranormal ability can travel to other planets in distant star systems. They can bring back knowledge (but not samples); one example is a plant that bears meat.
At this point in the story, Shep Blaine, interstellar traveler and Fishhook employee, is having an argument with a business man.
| "They're taking away our very livelihood. They're destroying a fine system of conventions and of ethics built very painfully through the centuries by men deeply dedicated to the public service... There is the matter for example, of this so-called butcher vegetable. You plant a row of seeds, then later you go out and dig up the plants as you would potatoes, but rather than potatoes you have hunks of protein." "And so," said Blaine, "for the first time in their lives, millions of people are eating meat they couldn't buy before, that your fine, brave system of conventions and of ethics didn't allow them to earn enough to buy." "But the farmers!" Dalton yelled. "And the meat market operators. Not to mention the packing interests..." "I suppose," suggested Blaine, "it would've been more cricket if the seeds had been sold exclusively to the farmers or the supermarkets. Or if they were sold at the rate of a dollar or a dollar and a half a piece instead of 10 cents a packet..." |
| Technovelgy from Time is the Simplest Thing,
by Clifford Simak. Published by Doubleday in 1961 Additional resources -
|
Another story that made use of this idea is The Pork Chop Tree (1965), a very clever story by James Schmitz that describes a tree that gives you just what you want - and makes you want to stay around.
(Pork Chop Tree by James Schmitz)
To see this piece of technovelgy made real, see the Protato, a real product recently developed in India.
Indian scientists have unveiled a genetically modified "protato" that incorporates the AmA1 gene from the amaranth plant, producing a third more protein than a non-GM potato. This latest development by researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi follows the famous "golden rice" grown with extra iron and vitamin A in Switzerland in 1999.The "protato" now faces rigorous trials and testing to prove the extra protein is digestible. The tests could take up to eight years. If approved for consumption, it could be used as a mid-day meal for Indian schoolchildren.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Time is the Simplest Thing
More Ideas
and Technology by Clifford Simak
Tech news articles related to Time is the Simplest Thing
Tech news articles related to works by Clifford Simak
| Holland Factory 3D Printing 500 Tons Of Steak Per Month |
| Robochef Robotic Food Prep |
| Drone Deliveries Instead Of Waiters In Restaurants? |
| SliceIt! Why Not Teach Robots To Use Knives? |
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'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
