acm@ucla-cs.UUCP (02/10/86)
I was re-reading Arthur C. Clarke's _Imperial_Earth_ and I have a question about the ending. After Duncan returns back to Titan, the child-clone is fair-skinned and blonde. Does this mean that he had Karl cloned or, somehow, when they "fixed" his genetic defects, this made the child caucasian and blonde? Comments? David Lee
acm@ucla-cs.UUCP (02/10/86)
In article <8838@ucla-cs.ARPA> Assoc for Computing Machinery <acm> writes: >I was re-reading Arthur C. Clarke's _Imperial_Earth_ and I have a question >about the ending. After Duncan returns back to Titan, the child-clone is >fair-skinned and blonde. Does this mean that he had Karl cloned or, somehow, >when they "fixed" his genetic defects, this made the child caucasian and >blonde? Comments? > >David Lee > No matter what the answer may be, a better question (and I guess, my real question) is why did he do what he did? David Lee
crm@duke.UUCP (Charlie Martin) (02/11/86)
In article <8838@ucla-cs.ARPA> acm@ucla-cs.UUCP writes: >I was re-reading Arthur C. Clarke's _Imperial_Earth_ and I have a question >about the ending. After Duncan returns back to Titan, the child-clone is >fair-skinned and blonde. Does this mean that he had Karl cloned or, somehow, >when they "fixed" his genetic defects, this made the child caucasian and >blonde? Comments? > >David Lee *I* thought it meant that -- while fixing the genetic defects -- Duncan had the kid's hair and skin color changed as a tribute to Karl, his once-upon-a-time true love. Not *caused by* fixed the defects, simply in addition to. Interesting enough (at least for me) I just noticed the other day that there is a black astrophysicist is Fall of Moondust named Duncan MacKenzie (spelling errors excepted.) -- Charlie Martin (...mcnc!duke!crm)
lmc@cisden.UUCP (Lyle McElhaney) (02/13/86)
> I was re-reading Arthur C. Clarke's _Imperial_Earth_ and I have a question > about the ending. After Duncan returns back to Titan, the child-clone is > fair-skinned and blonde. Does this mean that he had Karl cloned or, somehow, > when they "fixed" his genetic defects, this made the child caucasian and > blonde? Comments? > He had Karl cloned. At the beginning of Chapter 42 the doctor comments that he was glad that Duncan had finally made his decision. "The --ah-- delay has caused certain problems..." certainly refers to the length of time following Karl's death. Part of taking the "wider view" that is mentioned is the determination that strict heredity lineage wasn't helping Titan solve its problems, that some change was required...