Re: Evolution in science fiction

[Roberto Takata <rmtakata@gmail.com>]

On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 4:16 PM, T. Michael Keesey<keesey@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm reminded of Edgar Rice Burroughs Caspak series (The Land That Time
> Forgot, etc.), wherein people discover an island where ontogeny
> *actually* recapitulates phylogeny. Organisms develop from pond scum,
> going the metamorphic stages of being worms, fish, reptiles, mammals,
> and finally humans (or humanoids). (Maybe some take a different path
> and end up as other organisms -- I can't recall.)

And the bad movie "Evolution" (with David Duchovny and Dan Aykroyd).

Jeff Hecht
> Are there evolutionary counterparts of time travel and faster-than-light?

Well, I recollect HG Wells "The time machine" with human lineage split
into morlocks and elois. It would be funny if an advanced alien race
coming to Earth just to be abhorred with the revelation that they are
"cousins" of such a despiteful thing as "human".

Or one author could emphasize that "fittest" is not the same as
"strongest": a cataclysmic event could wipe out the dominant organisms
and left "humble" ones untouched.

[]s,

Roberto Takata