It’s certainly a more cost-effective and practical way of doing things than the atmosphere-engineering, landscape-sculpting handiwork on display in so much of the rest of science fiction. Known as “somaforming,” this process involves wearing an enzyme patch whilst the astronauts sleep between destinations, imbuing them with resistance to, say, certain deadly atmospheric gases, as well as a bevy of other useful upgrades.
In To Be Taught, If Fortunate, humanity has set its sights on the stars, and is able to modify the physiology of its astronauts in subtle ways, ways that will help them cope with the alien environments they are exploring. Leave it to Becky Chambers to put a spin on it which is not only more respectful of the environments of new planets, but also more believable.
Terraforming is all very well and good, but it does rather tie into the colonialist, empire-building side of space exploration.
0 kommentar(er)
