Daedalus, or Science and the Future (by Haldane, 1923)


	Daedalus, or Science and the Future (by Haldane, 1923)

Djiezes

2-3-2008 8:55 AM

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future, science, history, evolution, transhumanism, scifi, biology, haldane, literature, paper

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/5ecef472-e405-4f92-85ef-6290e3b3ca7c/285B0357-9B6E-42E9-9573-E4C40F0F5B7F/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Daedalus.html" href="http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Daedalus.html" style="font-size: 11px;">cscs.umich.edu</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Daedalus.html"><H1><CITE>DAEDALUS</CITE><P>
<BR />or
<BR />Science and the Future</P></H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Daedalus.html"><H2>A paper read to the Heretics, Cambridge, on February 4th, 1923</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Daedalus.html"><H1>by
<BR />J. B. S. Haldane</H1></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daedalus%3B_or%2C_Science_and_the_Future&oldid=160959912" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daedalus%3B_or%2C_Science_and_the_Future&oldid=160959912" style="font-size: 11px;">en.wikipedia.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daedalus%3B_or%2C_Science_and_the_Future&oldid=160959912"><P>The book is an early vision of <A title="Transhumanism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism">transhumanism</A> <A rel="nofollow" title="http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/faq21/80/" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/faq21/80/">[2]</A> and his vision of a future in which humans controlled their own <A title="Evolution" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution">evolution</A> through directed <A title="Mutation" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation">mutation</A> and use of <A title="In vitro fertilization" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_fertilization">in vitro fertilization</A> ("ectogenesis") was a major influence on <A title="Aldus Huxley" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldus_Huxley">Aldus Huxley</A>'s <A title="Brave New World" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World">Brave New World</A>. The book ends with the image of a <A title="Biologist" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologist">biologist</A>, much like Haldane himself, in a laboratory: "just a poor little scrubby underpaid man groping blindly amid the mazes of the ultramicroscop...conscious of his ghastly mission and proud of it."</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daedalus%3B_or%2C_Science_and_the_Future&oldid=160959912"><P>The book has been discussed at length by other writers, including <A title="Freeman Dyson" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson">Freeman Dyson</A> in his book "Imagined Worlds", "Science, Society, and Values" by Sal. P. Restivo <A rel="nofollow" title="http://books.google.com/books?id=h0z5zdPAR0gC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77&dq=daedalus+or+science+and+the+future&source=web&ots=ADERMTO72r&sig=u_S-qFtJhINr6bMsRyoSpeScEmg" class="external autonumber" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=h0z5zdPAR0gC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77&dq=daedalus+or+science+and+the+future&source=web&ots=ADERMTO72r&sig=u_S-qFtJhINr6bMsRyoSpeScEmg">[3]</A> and the conceit has been used in contemporary science lectures <A rel="nofollow" title="http://www.energyscience.org.uk/ov/ov002.htm" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.energyscience.org.uk/ov/ov002.htm">[4]</A>.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/285B0357-9B6E-42E9-9573-E4C40F0F5B7F/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>