Beggars in Spain
In a world where the slightest edge can mean the difference between success and failure, Leisha Camden is beautiful, extraordinarily intelligent... and one of an ever-growing number of human beings who have been genetically modified to never require sleep.Once considered interesting anomalies, now Leisha and the other "Sleepless" are outcasts -- victims of blind hatred, political repression, and shocking mob violence meant to drive them from human society... and, ultimately, from Earth itself.But Leisha Camden has chosen to remain behind in a world that envies and fears her "gift" -- a world marked for destruction in a devastating conspiracy of freedom... and revenge.
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64% recommend36% neutral
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What Hacker News says
- Consider: Beggars in Spain. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68333.Beggars_in_Spain
- For a nice thoughtful imagination of said future, Nancy Kress's Beggars in Spain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_in_Spain suggests one possible outcome. It has both gene editing to make better humans and unproductive masses. A short yet powerful read.
- "Beggars in Spain" is exactly this and worth the read. There is a book and a short story but as usual, the short story packs more punch.
- I recommend Nancy Kress's excellent science fiction trilogy "Beggars in Spain" for a good fictional exploration of this idea
- > Why not use this power to secrete chemicals that help you gain more control over yourself?
If you haven't tried it yet, you might be a fan of Nancy Kress' Beggars in Spain. Instead of adult use of nootropics, it deals with prenatal gene editing taken to the extreme: the first generation of the "Sleepless", children who don't need to sleep and can function 24/7 at peak of their (genetically enhanced) intellect and mood.
And so of course the questions become economic and social: what place will the world have for 'Sleepers'? What do the Sleepless, who didn't choose their condition, owe to those without their advantages? And what are the ethics of choosing to have a child with or without those benefits, since the choice can't ever be made with their consent?
(David Brin's Kiln People is perhaps less society-focused, but also fascinating. That one centers on the ability to create and recover memories from short-lived 'clones' - how do you build an economy when the world's best heart surgeon can operate on every patient?)
- Are you into Science Fiction? You may enjoy Nancy Kress' "Beggars in Spain." It's a story with a similar central thesis.
