 |
 First edition | |
| Author | F. Paul Wilson |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Forge Books |
Publication date | 2003 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 414 |
| Awards | Prometheus Award |
| ISBN | 0-7653-0551-8 |
| OCLC | 50718076 |
| 813.54 | |
| LC Class | PS3573.I45695 |
Sims is a science fiction novel by American writer F. Paul Wilson that explores a near-future event where Humanzees (Human-Chimpanzee hybrids) are created as a de facto slave race. [1]
In the near future, there have been amazing advances in genetics research. Through gene therapy, many deadly diseases have been cured. The SimGen Corporation has created a transgenic species called SIMS, creatures that are part chimpanzee and part human, and are treated as slaves. Suddenly a group of sims working as caddies at a golf course decide they want to unionize. They hire lawyer Patrick Sullivan to represent them, and Sullivan begins to ponder whether or not sims are entitled to equal human rights.
During the course of the novel, Patrick meets activist Romy Cadman and a mysterious man called Zero, who are on a crusade to destroy SimGen and stop the creation of sims. While the three of them try to protect the sims, they come close to uncovering a sinister secret within SimGen, a secret the company will stop at nothing to prevent from getting out.
The story touches on a possible future for genetics research, including the idea of primate hybrids with human DNA, and asks the question: Where would such creatures stand in human society, and would they be considered animal or human?
The chimpanzee, also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close relative the bonobo was more commonly known as the pygmy chimpanzee, this species was often called the common chimpanzee or the robust chimpanzee. The chimpanzee and the bonobo are the only species in the genus Pan. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows that Pan is a sister taxon to the human lineage and is humans' closest living relative. The chimpanzee is covered in coarse black hair, but has a bare face, fingers, toes, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. It is larger and more robust than the bonobo, weighing 40–70 kg (88–154 lb) for males and 27–50 kg (60–110 lb) for females and standing 150 cm.
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning, which is the reproduction of human cells and tissue. It does not refer to the natural conception and delivery of identical twins. The possibilities of human cloning have raised controversies. These ethical concerns have prompted several nations to pass laws regarding human cloning.
The genus Pan consists of two extant species: the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Taxonomically, these two ape species are collectively termed panins. The two species were formerly collectively called "chimpanzees" or "chimps"; if bonobos were recognized as a separate group at all, they were referred to as "pygmy chimpanzees". Together with humans, gorillas, and orangutans they are part of the family Hominidae. Native to sub-Saharan Africa, chimpanzees and bonobos are currently both found in the Congo jungle, while only the chimpanzee is also found further north in West Africa. Both species are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and in 2017 the Convention on Migratory Species selected the chimpanzee for special protection.
Oliver was a former "performing" chimpanzee once promoted as a missing link or "humanzee" due to his somewhat human-like appearance and a tendency to walk upright. Despite his somewhat unusual appearance and behavior, scientists found that Oliver was not a human-chimpanzee hybrid.
Oryx and Crake is a 2003 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. She has described the novel as speculative fiction and adventure romance, rather than pure science fiction, because it does not deal with things "we can't yet do or begin to do", yet goes beyond the amount of realism she associates with the novel form. It focuses on a lone character called Snowman, who finds himself in a bleak situation with only creatures called Crakers to keep him company. The reader learns of his past, as a boy called Jimmy, and of genetic experimentation and pharmaceutical engineering that occurred under the purview of Jimmy's peer, Glenn "Crake".
The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells (1866–1946). The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat. He is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, a mad scientist who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection. The novel deals with a number of themes, including pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity, human interference with nature, and the effects of trauma. Wells described it as "an exercise in youthful blasphemy."
The Uplift War is a 1987 science fiction novel by American writer David Brin, the third book of six set in his Uplift Universe. It was nominated as the best novel for the 1987 Nebula Award and won the 1988 Hugo and Locus Awards. The previous two books are Sundiver and Startide Rising.
The humanzee is a hypothetical hybrid of chimpanzee and human, thus a form of human–animal hybrid. Serious attempts to create such a hybrid were made by Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov in the 1920s, and possibly by researchers in China in the 1960s, though neither succeeded. The portmanteau humanzee for a human–chimpanzee hybrid appears to have entered usage in the 1980s.
Dino Crisis 3 is an action-adventure video game developed by Capcom Production Studio 4 and published by Capcom for the Xbox. Like the previous installments in the Dino Crisis series, the gameplay revolves around fighting dinosaurs or other reptiles, but the enemies in this game are not real dinosaurs. They are mutations created from DNA extracted from various dinosaur species. The game takes place on a space station. It is the third and final game in the Dino Crisis series.
Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters. Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation of an ecosystem". Other terms include artificial life game and simulated life game (SLG).
Human evolutionary genetics studies how one human genome differs from another human genome, the evolutionary past that gave rise to the human genome, and its current effects. Differences between genomes have anthropological, medical, historical and forensic implications and applications. Genetic data can provide important insights into human evolution.
The Stars Are Ours! is a 1954 science fiction novel by American writer Andre Norton. It describes the first interstellar voyage, undertaken to escape the tyranny that rules the Earth. Norton wrote a sequel, Star Born, which was published in 1957.
Experiments involving non-human primates (NHPs) include toxicity testing for medical and non-medical substances; studies of infectious disease, such as HIV and hepatitis; neurological studies; behavior and cognition; reproduction; genetics; and xenotransplantation. Around 65,000 NHPs are used every year in the United States, and around 7,000 across the European Union. Most are purpose-bred, while some are caught in the wild.
A Different Flesh is a collection of alternate history short stories by American writer Harry Turtledove. The stories are set in a world in which Homo erectus, along with various megafauna, survived to the modern times in the Americas as the Native Americans along with any other human cultures.
Wyrms (1987) is a science fiction novel by American writer Orson Scott Card. The story examines desire, wisdom, and human will. Card describes a version of the tri-partite soul, similar to that articulated by Plato in The Republic.
Nadezhda Nikolaevna Ladygina-Kohts was a Russian zoopsychologist and comparative psychologist best known for her work comparing human and chimpanzee behavior, emotion, and cognition. She is the author of several books on ape and monkey behavior and served as the co-director of the first natural history museum in Russia.
Aspects of genetics including mutation, hybridisation, cloning, genetic engineering, and eugenics have appeared in fiction since the 19th century.
Dr. Henry Wu is a fictional character in the Jurassic Park franchise. He is introduced in Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park, which began the franchise. He also appears briefly in the novel's 1993 film adaptation, and plays a larger role in the Jurassic World film trilogy. Dr. Wu is the lead geneticist for the dinosaur theme parks Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, overseeing the de-extinction of dinosaurs through genetic engineering. He is killed by a Velociraptor in the novel, but survives throughout the film series, in which he is portrayed by actor BD Wong. Although Wu is a supporting character in the novel, he has a drastically reduced role in the film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg. Wong and Wu are both Asian-American, and the actor believed that the role was reduced, to his disappointment, because of "racial exclusion in Hollywood".
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