Comments on: Future Fiction http://blog.lowlightimages.com/blog/2008/11/future-fiction/ Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:20:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Dave http://blog.lowlightimages.com/blog/2008/11/future-fiction/comment-page-1/#comment-1455 Dave Wed, 20 May 2009 10:06:16 +0000 http://blog.lowlightimages.com/blog/?p=237#comment-1455 Thanks for the comment Mike! Two points: <ol> <li>I was talking about the evolution that should have occurred <em>before </em>Olivaw was even built - remember that even that event is supposed to have happened way in the future. So, tens of thousands of years in the future, maybe millions, I would not expect human beings to be just the way they are now. Evolution is already changing our species surprisingly quickly. Medical technology (which Asimov could not have forseen) may also have interesting effects here :) </li> <li>Even if Olivaw was seeding planets with Earth life, it would have immediately starting evolving according to the local conditions. If each planet was terraformed first, then it would likely have still been only approximate, enough to sustain the implanted life. So each would have had slightly different conditions and in time they would have diverged. </li> </ol> Thanks for the comment Mike!

Two points:

  1. I was talking about the evolution that should have occurred before Olivaw was even built – remember that even that event is supposed to have happened way in the future. So, tens of thousands of years in the future, maybe millions, I would not expect human beings to be just the way they are now. Evolution is already changing our species surprisingly quickly. Medical technology (which Asimov could not have forseen) may also have interesting effects here :)
  2. Even if Olivaw was seeding planets with Earth life, it would have immediately starting evolving according to the local conditions. If each planet was terraformed first, then it would likely have still been only approximate, enough to sustain the implanted life. So each would have had slightly different conditions and in time they would have diverged.
]]> By: Mike Osman http://blog.lowlightimages.com/blog/2008/11/future-fiction/comment-page-1/#comment-1443 Mike Osman Mon, 18 May 2009 20:32:23 +0000 http://blog.lowlightimages.com/blog/?p=237#comment-1443 The lack of evolution of humans in the Foundation series was due to the fact that R. Daneel Olivaw was manipulating/pulverizing and ecoforming planets throughout the galaxy and populating them with earth animals and plants. There was no reason for evolution when that steady state was recreated with each new planet. The lack of evolution of humans in the Foundation series was due to the fact that R. Daneel Olivaw
was manipulating/pulverizing and ecoforming planets throughout the galaxy and populating them
with earth animals and plants. There was no reason for evolution when that steady state was
recreated with each new planet.

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