On Sat, 03 May 2008 10:36:06 -0400, Mark Stephen <mstephen@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
>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?
>
Humans have ten times the generation length of dogs so you'd have to
be patient.
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