Blood Music by Greg Bear
Convinced me that biology could legitimately be included in that crown of the literature–”hard science” SF.
The increasing use of biological polymers and proteins in things as diverse as computer chips convinces me that the field systematically ignores cutting edge science when it excludes biology from what is throught of as “hard science” science fiction. The separation between the bilogical and the mechanical in the real world is shrinking much faster than it is in our literature. Soon, in the real world, the advances in biological or combined sciences could overshadow those in the physical sciences while the field is still playing tin robots.
Besides, you have to admire the tour-de-force of starting out with a mundane infection and ending up uniting every living thing (literally) on the planet!
May 8th, 2003 at 6:37 pm
Reflections of the real are exemplified by this weeks announcements about a smart virus that targets brain cancers. Also three weeks ago, the announcement of a gene thereapy that causes liver cells to start producing insulin and three other hormones important in glucose control.
Biology is going to change our world more radically than physics.