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(...) I'd like to chime in as a biologist here: there are some situations in which sexual energy is better spent without a procreative effect. For example, if a group has limited resources. Sexual interactions among animals are not always strictly (...) (20 years ago, 20-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) Cynthia, can you hypothesize a mechanism by which this might be true? I would have thought that gene replication happens before anything else that might potentially cause gayness. Chris (20 years ago, 20-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) Hi Chris, well, strictly speaking, I meant a gene expressed in gay people as opposed to straight people, or expressed more or less highly between the 2 different groups. Any number of mechanisms could account for such an occurance (probably (...) (20 years ago, 21-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) Yeah, I got all that and I hope I wasn't diluting your point. (...) That's super-cool. I had no idea. Is there a term for this phenomenon that I can google for? Chris (20 years ago, 21-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) Chris- This incredible process was discovered when people began to realize that we each have too many different antibody proteins, and that our DNA isn't long enough to encode them all. Eventually they figured out that each antibody-producing (...) (20 years ago, 21-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) See also the novels of Greg Bear, who seems to riff on some of this stuff quite a bit. You might just get a lot of confused views rather than good solid scientific info but you might just enjoy the reads... (I just finished Vitals which (...) (20 years ago, 21-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) Okay, so that works on an individual celular level, with cells that have evolved specifically to do this. Do you really think something as tied to the core psychology of self as sexual orientation would be post-natally programmable at the (...) (20 years ago, 21-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) The bottom line is: we don't know!! We can speculate all we want to, but we just don't have any facts to go by. (...) Because we can't think of one doesn't mean there isn't one. Nature is generally smarter than we are :) (...) But there is no (...) (20 years ago, 21-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) I love Greg Bear, also good are Darwin's Radio and Blood Music. (20 years ago, 21-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Genetics and SF (was Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) Those, in fact (along with Darwin's Children) were what I was thinking of as well. I just finished Blood Music and I have to say while I found the science very interesting, I sort of didn't like the ending of the story. The whole last half of (...) (20 years ago, 22-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: Genetics and SF (was Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) If it's genetic SF you want, give the Beggars trilogy (Beggars in Spain, Beggars and Choosers, and Beggars Ride) by Nancy Kress a read. Not only are they a very good read but they are also very pertinant to the issues that started this whole (...) (20 years ago, 22-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: Genetics and SF (was Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) If I recall correctly, Blood Music was indeed a short story first, and then was lengthened to a novel after the short story's success. I've only read the short version, but I wouldn't doubt that the second half of the novel was bland. ~Kevoh (20 years ago, 22-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: Genetics and SF (was Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) Read them, liked them. The very notion of being Sleepless is a pretty amazing idea. Thought the third book got a bit weak compared to the first, though. (20 years ago, 22-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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| | Re: Genetics and SF (was Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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(...) I've only read a couple of full-length novels that were originally published as short stories or novellas. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) comes immediately to mind (and I've recently discovered a copy of the original novella at the local (...) (20 years ago, 22-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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