Assignment: Nor'Dyren

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Order: Nor'Dyren (1990, ISBN 3-453-04463-0 , original title Assignment Nor'Dyren , 1973, Avon Books; ISBN 0-380-17160-0 ) is a science fiction novel by the American writer Sydney J. Van Scyoc . He is concerned with the world of Nor'Dyren, on which a humanoid alien race lives, whose social system is much better structured than that of humanity on earth . After the first humans land on Nor'Dyren, they discover that there are three very specialized types of residents. At first glance, this division of tasks into three does not seem to work in any way. So nobody on Nor'Dyren is able to repair the broken machines. There are no new developments or recent inventions. Archaeological studies then show that the world has been continually regressing in cultural and technical terms for over 200 years.

action

After some time of research , people find out that there were originally four of these groups of residents. The fourth group, the Qattagon, were responsible for all creative developments and artistic work. Almost 200 years ago, the Qattagon seemed to be driving very radical developments and got into a dispute with the Gonnegon group. The Gonnegon are responsible for administrative and supervisory activities and removed the Qattagon from the social structure of the planet. This was possible because the Qattagon were unable to conceive. Their birth was always a result of crossbreeding between the three remaining races. This breeding program was controlled by the administration, i.e. the Gonnegon.

Procreation scheme on Nor'Dyren

  • Allegon and Allegon result in Allegon
  • Berregon and Berregon surrender to Berregon
  • Gonnegon and Gonnegon make Gonnegon
  • Qattagon are incapable of childbearing
  • Allegon and Berregon or Gonnegon make Qattagon
  • Berregon and Gonnegon surrender to Qattagon

To exclude the Qattagon, the Gonnegon passed a law that members of the other three groups were only allowed to have offspring with partners in their own group. The corollary to this arrangement was that no more qattagons were born from this point on.

The reason for the conspicuousness and the restlessness of the Qattagon has its origin in the basic conception of the specialization of this breed. Originally, this development was conceived for a people who were part of a huge interstellar empire . After the collapse of the empire, Nor'Dyren was isolated and on his own and could no longer compensate for the almost excessive creativity of the Qattagon. The system got out of control.

Genetic Engineering and the Human Race

The most interesting technical aspect of the novel is about genetic engineering . The four subgroups of the inhabitants of Nor'Dyren are the result of genetic manipulation in order to achieve a specialization of the four groups through breeding , which is supposed to keep the social structure of the inhabitants very stable. In the meantime, the people on earth have created the conditions for the genetic modification of humanity . They are also now intensively researching space and dealing with the changes that arise for them through science and technology - such as the question of whether there are other humanoid races in space that are also concerned with space travel (see SETI project ), as well also the question of whether a breed needs to be genetically modified in order to advance its own development.

Homosexuality and creativity

Apart from genetic engineering, the novel deals with the social component of the connection between creativity and homosexuality . The relationship between these two properties has been discussed for years. Others strongly reject the hypothesis of a connection, while at the same time the influence of homosexuality on society is observed.

Research aimed at proving that homosexuality is caused by abnormal brain functions is only progressing slowly and currently the results are rather sparse. In the course of this study, one focus is the connection between creativity and homosexuality.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ellis A: Homosexuality and creativity . In: J Clin Psychol . October 15, 1959, pp. 376-9. PMID 13820018 .
  2. ↑ Domino G: Homosexuality and creativity . In: J homosex . 2, No. 3, 1977, pp. 261-7. PMID 864247 .
  3. ↑ CSWT Reports ( Memento of November 13, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) at www.eng.uci.edu
  4. ↑ Swaab DF, Gooren LJ, Hofman MA: Brain research, gender and sexual orientation . In: J homosex . 28, No. 3-4, 1995, pp. 283-301. PMID 7560933 .
  5. ↑ Lasco MS, Jordan TJ, Edgar MA, Petito CK, Byne W: A lack of dimorphism of sex or sexual orientation in the human anterior commissure . In: Brain Res. . 936, No. 1-2, May 2002, pp. 95-8. doi : 10.1016 / S0006-8993 (02) 02590-8 . PMID 11988236 .

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