Jon Schild wrote:
>
> ilya2@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>> Has anyone ever written a story about aliens who take over Earth, and
>> regard humans as "charming wildlife"? I know there are stories where
>> humans are *pests* living in an alien environment, but what I am
>> asking about are stories where the top dogs of said environment
>> actually *like* humans, and take some steps to ensure our survival --
>> but not to the point of leaving our planet to us. IOW, the way many
>> suburbanites view raccoons.
>
> There is one I read not too long ago, but for some reason can't remember
> much about. The humans were kept in pens and used as horses by the
> rather small aliens. Not quite charming wildlife, but not exterminated
> either.
>
Not the same story, but in Jack Vance's _Dragon Masters_, humans and
aliens breed their captives selectively to produce weapons, draft
animals etc.
I'm a little surprised this idea never comes up in the interminable
evolution threads. I have three dogs, a border collie, an Irish
flat-coat retriever and a Great Pyrenees. They differ wildly in size,
appearance, temperament and intelligence, and these traits seem to have
been established in only a few generations. AFAIK, the only sf novel
with a cultural background which would allow this sort of
experimentation on humans by humans was _Iron Dream_, but is this sort
of selective breeding with humans actually impossible, or merely
unethical and kinda disgusting?
Thinking back, Doc Smith?
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