[Dragaera] Boing!

[Jon_Lincicum at stream.com]

"Davdi Silverrock" <davdisil at gmail.com> 
Sent by: dragaera-bounces at dragaera.info
09/07/06 11:25 AM

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"Dragaera List" <dragaera at dragaera.info>
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Subject
Re: [Dragaera] Boing!




>On 9/7/06, Jon_Lincicum wrote:
>
>>
>> Well, in the reviewer's defense, he is basically paraphrasing Aliera's
>> talk in chapter nine of /Jhereg/... Since the members of each House 
really
>> *are* genetically descended from the animals that represent them 
(except
>> for Jhereg), he statement is technically correct.
>
>I don't think so.  First of all, "descended" isn't really the right
>term, since the genes were added by artificial manipulation.

...which is why it was qualified as "genetically descended". The genes, or 
DNA strands that were inserted via Jenoine manipulation, were then passed 
on to descendants of that house. 

>Dragaerans are transgenic organisms, and the House of the Dragon is no
>more descended from dragons than a genetically modified rabbit that
>glows in the dark is descended from fluorescent jellyfish.  Secondly,

Ah, but that rabbit is "genetically descended" from that Jellyfish. Or, at 
least, his kids are.

>it has not been disclosed how the animal genes affect them; it is
>still possible that the specifically animal genes are non-active
>markers rather than actively coding for any expressed traits.

Well, I don't see how this makes much difference, other than adding to the 
generally misleading nature of our reviewer's comment. If the genes are 
present, even if they are inactive, then they are still part of a being's 
genetic heritage, yes?

Majikjon