Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 47 - Frozen Despair
“Do you believe in evolution Kay?”
“What’s to believe in? Things evolve or they don’t, I don’t understand your question.”
They were sitting on a plateau above the Sea Of Tranquility in a Qblock simulation of Earth’s moon, they had come to watch the earthrise. They had gone to one of the non-real Sakamuru sidechains, so they sat in an airless atmosphere without suits or breathing gear.
Amorphia stretched out behind him her knees bent so her bare toes could explore the dry ground beneath her feet. She had purposely worn an outfit that would have been exceptionally ridiculous had she been planning an actual journey into the vacuum of space. K-Rox half-turned so that he could see the top of her white shorts where it did not quite meet the bottom of her little green top.
He didn’t feel like turning fully from his seated position, arms wrapped around his knees, so he twisted back around to stare at the horizon in anticipation of the rising of planet Earth. Sensing he wasn’t going to speak anymore Amorphia prompted him further.
“I guess what I’m trying to ask you is; if you believe evolution is a credible vehicle for biological success?”
As he spoke K-Rox fell back, propping himself up on his elbows, allowing his head to be closer to Amorphia's prone form, but so he could still stare at the horizon to watch for the first glimmer of rising blue.
“Well that question I suppose only has validity to an organism with the power to achieve biological success without evolution.”
“Bingo.”
“Right, so the question should be rephrased as; do I believe that evolution is, or at least should be the prime mover when it comes to our continuing success as a species?”
It was Amorphia’s turn to sit up now, she turned to him, little flecks of moondust billowed in mini tornadoes from her hair as she flicked it from her eyes and fixed him with that gaze.
“Uh-huh, and?”
“I’m not so sure if it’s a fair question, without early human evolution we wouldn’t be here now having this conversation. However if you look at the function of evolution, to ensure the survival of the species, then you could perhaps argue that it has done it’s job so to speak.
The best part of that job was giving us brains that were able to create computers, because ultimately evolution happens at such a glacial pace that it is hard to just sit and wait for things to get better, and computers helped us accelerate our own evolution.
Let’s face it, you’re asking me if all of our biotech is better than just letting things play out, if so, then I say yes it is, without it we would still be contracting and dying of diseases that are wholly avoidable.
Plus of course if we ever happened to find ourselves on the branch of species that goes extinct, then suddenly leaving things to natural selection doesn't seem so wise.”
Amorphia sat up and looked into his eyes, he returned her gaze and saw in her a sadness that he could not recognise, she seemed resigned to something, what he did not know.
“I just hope that with all of these changes, we don’t forget who we are.”
As she spoke the words she looked out to the horizon, her face was lit blue as the Earth rose into view, as much as he wanted to watch the spectacle, K-Rox couldn't tear his gaze from Amorphia's face.
He watched her lips barely move as the words came out, almost immediately they were lost to space, her stare went far beyond the rising planet in the distance. For all the world K-Rox got the feeling that rather than the human race, she was talking about the two of them.
The raw icy blast of her sadness whipped through his soul, leaving him shuddering and frozen to the bone as the two of them sat in silence as a virtual Earth spun into view four hundred thousand kilometres away.
Previous Chapters
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 46 - Insanity Realm
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 45 - Lives Eternal
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 44 - Insanity Spiral
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 43 - Confusion Eternal
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 42 - The Lost Tales
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 41 - The Shadow Of Death
Asimov's Ghost Summary and Chapter Links 31-40
Asimov's Ghost Summary And Chapter links 21-30
Original artwork by @fr3eze
Original words by Cryptogee
I love the words you choose, dear friend!
Thank you :-)
Cg
"I just hope that with all of these changes, we don’t forget who we are.”
Yeah that is a story plot I find quite often in sci-fi or fantasy books, and virtually always I don't like that at all. I mean, you experience the upside downs of duality, and at the end it is as if nothing ever happened, with your memory being whiped. Yes, we might want that forgetting, but still there is this melancholic drag which we cannot explain then, yet it is stored in our Soul memory which never forgets..
"Earthrise" now that is an amazing perception. How did you come up with that idea of watching the earth rise? It's just awesome @cryptogee.
Evolution is not a mark of biological success because I dont think human beings are successful as a sentient species.