JohnRoth wrote:Sheila wrote:I find it interesting that Albrecht "sons" are referred to as clones. This implies that there weren't any major changes between them and their father. This inturn implies that there has not been any major improvement in the Alpha lines in more than a generation. And this then implies that either that the Mesans have been coasting or that they have been looking in the wrong places for additional improvements.
Um, no.On 2014-04-14 RFC wrote:Since I’ve already wandered somewhat afield from the topic I originally set out to discuss, I should also point out that Albrecht Detweiler and his sons are not clones of Leonard Detweiler. They are, in effect, the current generation of the steadily improved Detweiler genotype. Remember we’re talking about a prolong society here, and the actual age difference between Albrecht and Benjamin isn’t very great for that sort of society. Nor are the offspring of the Detweiler “sons” genetic duplicates of their parents. Albrecht was cloned, frankly, because by all of the tests the Alignment could apply, he was going to be an incredibly capable generalist and leader and the Long-Range Planning Board decided that given how far into the endgame of the Alignment’s strategy they were, it made a great deal of sense to provide an entire cohort of equally capable leaders to whom Albrecht could delegate areas of responsibility.
