THERE were many ambiguous elements to the Human Seed Project, more than merely the classifi cation within this collection, but since some of the primary examples are vegetative, they had to be kept in the rooftop conservatory.
The motivation was either to create a sort of ark, or as a way to colonize space. The end result was a seed, about the size of an olive pip, that when ingested by, or embedded in, a carbon-based life-form, would, over the course of weeks, take over the host organism. Two or three generations later you should have yourself a pure human specimen* (plate 50 shows a first generation sphynx**-to-human).
The proposal is to shoot millions of these seeds across space, targeting ‘hotspots’, hoping they’ll get lodged into something habitable. The theory goes that they should adopt local survival mechanisms from their host, increasing their chances of permanency. In this way, Earth could colonize extremely rapidly without much expenditure and with zero risk to human life.
My question is: since they take no history, culture or language with them, in what way are they human? Technically and biologically human of course, but what guarantee would there be of future communication between Earth and a colony? Perhaps we could send along explanatory pamphlets.
I wonder if – and here I’d be accused of being a mech-lover – sending some sort of robot that had stored within it our languages and records would actually be more productive. This begs the question: what reasons are there for colonizing? To feed a hungrier Earth? To improve on what came before? Just because we can?
Actually, those behind the Human Seed Project are well ahead of me. The seeds are to form a base population, large enough for long-term genetic diversity, to prepare breeding stock for the follow-up colonizers, selected from the billions on Earth. Indeed, those seen worthy will take to the skies, to be met by a harem of mating partners where they will rule, teach and guide a new civilization.
* homo sapiens rudus if clarification is needed. Rumor has it that the Prometheists are funding an altus project, but so what if they are?
** A breed of hairless cat.
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