by snavej » Sat Jul 22, 2023 6:20 pm
- Motto: "Follow your instincts and your common sense."
'Dangerous Visions' - a very important compilation of science fiction short stories from 1967. The editor was Harlan Ellison, who also writes SF. There are many themes in the stories such as time travel, human advancement, things not being what they seem, body augmentation, etc.
The first story is about humanity somehow surpassing God in terms of power. They acquire the means to capture and imprison Him. It's in no way realistic but it expresses the mood of the time, when technology was leaping forward faster than ever before: space travel, atomic energy, jet planes, computers, modern medicine, birth control, etc.
The final story is about how, in an alternate universe, all human astronauts have to be neutered. This is because of excessive cosmic radiation in space. The radiation damages the reproductive system. Humanity tries to avoid the creation of mutants by the use of neutering. However, those who stay on Earth are sometimes strongly attracted to astronauts. These people are referred to as 'frelks', which is a derogatory term.
Somewhere in the middle is 'The Jigsaw Man' story which is, apparently, the first to deal with a scenario of mass-scale organ transplantation. This includes organ-legging, where people are kidnapped and some organs are removed against their will. If enough organs are taken, it becomes murder. This happens occasionally in some parts of the world in real life.
Also central to the plot is official organ harvesting from criminals who are sentenced to death. Their use as 'organ banks' makes their executions far more useful to society. In real life, China does this today. Organs are shown being stored in large vats of nutrient solution.
Unfortunately, the story was written too early to address the serious problem of transplant rejection by the human immune system, plus the need for multiple drugs to neutralise this tendency.