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More Arthropods as Intelligent Aliens: page 2
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LEFT: Antlike alien from the cover of "Asimov's Universe: The Diplomacy Guild." This is a collection of stories about a Universe with a number of sentient species. This particular illustration and the one of the dragonfly below share a common anthropomorphism: the helmet is placed where a human would wear a breathing apparatus. But insects typically breathe through abdominal structures. In the case of immature aquatic forms (the dragonfly below is nymph stage), there may be a breathing tube at the rear of the abdomen. However, the artists have given the aliens human traits. Furthermore, the faceted arthropod eye forms images differently from a human eye. The displays on the viewscreen near the alien's right elbow are more for human eyes than alien eyes. Anyway, it is humans who will be seeing the book covers, so the anthropomorphisms make marketing sense.

RIGHT: Second Genesis by David Moffett. This is a sequel to Genesis Quest by the same author. There is solid science in these books, skillfully worked into a story. The Nemesis Hypothesis (one explanation for the periodic mass extinctions on Earth), engineering on a huge scale, bioengineering, molecular biology and astronomy are all present. I have found this pair of stories a useful springboard for students in natural sciences.

The essence of these stories is that humans knew they would be wiped out by radiation behavior of the black hole at the center of this galaxy. So they turned whole star systems into intergalactic transmitters (planets were converted to transmission disks powered by the sun of the system) in order to send the human DNA code into space. And sure enough, the Nar, a race of plantlike beings in a neighboring galaxy received the message, understood it and recreated humans. Naturally, the recreated humans wanted to go back to their home galaxy to see what had happened during the last 64 million years. They were also looking for Original Man (or what humans might have become.What they found and how they recognized the evolved form of humans makes for a tale told with gentle humor and irony. They also meet so real nasties from Earth...the rats and the dragonflies got their chances at sentience in the 64 million year periods between mass extinctions (humans go extinct, rats evolve, then the dragonflies).

Humans get the chance to recreate the Nar when the Nar galaxy turns out to have a naughty black hole at its core.

Question: if a species gets ahold of the code for another species, will it resist the temptation to edit the genetic code? Say, for instance, remove or modify violent behaviors? Why resurrect a killer species? Moffett has answered these questions obliquely: you can figure it out by paying attention to the behaviors of the resurrected humans. Would our species send out genetic codes of the whole human range of variation?

LEFT: On the Way to Paradise


More Arthropods as Intelligent Aliens: page 2 Click on these images to view them at full size.
	LEFT: Antlike alien from the cover of "Asimov's Universe: The Diplomacy Guild." This is a collection of stories about a Universe with a number of sentient species. This particular illustration and the one of the dragonfly below share a common anthropomorphism: the helmet is placed where a human would wear a breathing apparatus. But insects typically breathe through abdominal structures. In the case of immature aquatic forms (the dragonfly below is nymph stage), there may be a breathing tube at the rear of the abdomen. However, the artists have given the aliens human traits. Furthermore, the faceted arthropod eye forms images differently from a human eye. The displays on the viewscreen near the alien's right elbow are more for human eyes than alien eyes. Anyway, it is humans who will be seeing the book covers, so the anthropomorphisms make marketing sense.
RIGHT: Second Genesis by David Moffett. This is a sequel to Genesis Quest by the same author. There is solid science in these books, skillfully worked into a story. The Nemesis Hypothesis (one explanation for the periodic mass extinctions on Earth), engineering on a huge scale, bioengineering, molecular biology and astronomy are all present. I have found this pair of stories a useful springboard for students in natural sciences. The essence of these stories is that humans knew they would be wiped out by radiation behavior of the black hole at the center of this galaxy. So they turned whole star systems into intergalactic transmitters (planets were converted to transmission disks powered by the sun of the system) in order to send the human DNA code into space. And sure enough, the Nar, a race of plantlike beings in a neighboring galaxy received the message, understood it and recreated humans. Naturally, the recreated humans wanted to go back to their home galaxy to see what had happened during the last 64 million years. They were also looking for Original Man (or what humans might have become.What they found and how they recognized the evolved form of humans makes for a tale told with gentle humor and irony. They also meet so real nasties from Earth...the rats and the dragonflies got their chances at sentience in the 64 million year periods between mass extinctions (humans go extinct, rats evolve, then the dragonflies). Humans get the chance to recreate the Nar when the Nar galaxy turns out to have a naughty black hole at its core.
			Question: if a species gets ahold of the code for another species, will it resist the temptation to edit the genetic code? Say, for instance, remove or modify violent behaviors? Why resurrect a killer species? Moffett has answered these questions obliquely: you can figure it out by paying attention to the behaviors of the resurrected humans. Would our species send out genetic codes of the whole human range of variation?
		LEFT: On the Way to Paradise