REVIEWS by SULLYDOG
REVIEWS by SULLYDOG
Darwins Radio
by Greg Bear
Darwin's theory of the evolution of species, as originaly formulated by Darwin himself, paints a picture of changes occuring in populations at a slow, steady rate. Such a view does not jibe with the fossil record, which demonstrates long periods of apparent evolutionary stagnation interspersed with explosions of new species. The concept of "Punctuated Equilibrium," offered by Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge as a critique and modification of Darwin's theory, attempts to explain this discrepancy. In their view, the "fitness landscape" exerts a negative feedback on evolutionary innovation when the environment is stable. But when major stressors appear (climate change, over-industrialization, the odd asteroid) evolution meets the challenge with massive die-offs of old species and the appearance of new forms.
In both Teranesia and Darwin's Radio the authors ask a critical question: what's the catalyst? If changes in the fitness landscape drive evolution, where's the biological signaling system that drives innovation at the level of our chromosomes? In Teranesia, Greg Egan proposes a protein transcription factor-cum-quantum computer: the San Paulo protein. In Darwin's Radio, Greg Bear offers a different answer: the retroviruses. More specifically, the Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs), molecular fossils scattered throughout the genome, ready to reconstitute and catalyze genetic R&D when the going gets tough, driving humans to a new phenotype.
Mitch Rafelson is an anthropologist and a scientific pariah. His
reputation has already been trashed by a to-do over a Native American
burial site, in which he put the interests of science over those of
the local tribes. Now he's getting himself in trouble in the Swiss
Alps, illegaly investigating a spectacular find: a
fresh-frozen Neanderthal couple, one of them murdered, and a child.
That's spectacular enough, but the site holds other mysteries. The
Neanderthals bear strange, fleshy masks over their faces. And the
child is no Neanderthal, but rather homo sapiens. It's
the find of the millenium, but in the mountaneering disaster that
ensues Mitch is lucky to get out with his ass attached. Bear does a
great job of opening the novel with a bang, mixing mystery, action
and character development into an irresistible hook.
Meanwhile, Kaye Lang, a molecular biologist with a novel theory about
the re-emergence of HERVs, and Christopher Dicken, a virus hunter
from the CDC, have stumbled onto a silent, deadly epidemic. A bizarre
new disease is striking pregnant women around the world, resulting in
the spontaneous abortion of deformed offspring. Bear handles
difficult and complex exposition masterfuly, revealing whole
epidemiologies in a few lines of dialog. His characters go through
rounds of painful personal evolution: Kaye is recently
widowed, having lost a husband who was more of a father-figure than a
lover. Dicken is forced to deal not only with his area of
competency--hunting viruses--but also with the unfamiliar
entanglements of politics. Everything the characters do has the
delightful tendency to show up as a complication later on. By the
time Kaye and Mitch discover the powerful sexual chemistry between
them, it's becoming apparent that this new "disease" is no
disease at all, but rather the very purposeful machinations of human
evolution--a recapitulation of the ancient drama that led two
Neanderthals to produce one of the first homo sapiens.
The fossilized retroviruses buried in our genomes are an evolutionary
organ, a molecular rapid response element that permits us to respond
as a species to environmental stressors, rather than step
aside and allow the indefatigable cockroaches to take over. Mitch and
Kaye realize that they've found each other in the crucible of
evolution, and that realization confronts the two young lovers with
an awesome, terrifying decision.
Darwin's Radio is perhaps the most accessible of Bear's
recent works. Like Teranesia and Eater,
this book demonstrates a first-class storytelling talent coupled with
daring but hard-headed scientific speculation. Of the three, I'd have
to rank Bear's as the best overall, but it's a tough call. These
three novels represent the best that hard sf has to offer.
Sullydog Approves.
