From: adam louis stephanides <astephan@students.uiuc.edu>
Subject: (urth) Human-Annese interbreeding
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 21:09:27 



On Sun, 31 May 1998 Robert Borski wrote:

> Given the diverseness of our own genome here on earth, where a Masai can
> mate with a pygmy (just to pick an obvious set of extremes) and reproduce,
> it's very likely all three variants could interbreed, and might even
> hybridize with good old Homo sapiens terrae. God is sometimes wondrous--

This is something that bothered me when I reread 5HC.  I'm no
biologist, but given the possible variations in the amino acids used, the
genetic code used, the number of chromosomes, the arrangement of genes on
the chromosome, and undoubtedly other things, it seems to me that there is
basically no chance of life that evolved independently on two different
planets being able to interbreed.  Of course, the question is how it seems
to Mr. Wolfe (the real one).

If he feels the same way as me, this of course raises the problem that
V.R.T. is portrayed as a human-Annese hybrid.  There are several
possibilities:

1) Annese can change their DNA along with their shapes.

2) All Annese, not just the Shadow children, were descendants of an
earlier wave of human colonization.

3) Either of the alternatives I presented for "Liev's Postpostulate" (the
Annese are French settlers gone native, or projections of the settler's
thoughts).

4) R.T. is not V.R.T.'s genetic father.

Any opinions?

--Adam



*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/