Time Enough for Love (Robert A. Heinlein)
Time Enough for Love
Time Enough for Love is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1973. The work was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973[1] and both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1974.[2]
Plot
The book covers several periods from the life of Lazarus Long (born Woodrow Wilson Smith), an early beneficiary of a breeding experiment designed to increase mankind's natural lifespan, known as the Howard Families, after the program's initiator. The result of more a mutation than the breeding experiment, he is the oldest living human, at more than two thousand years old.
The first half of the book takes the form of several novellas connected by Lazarus's retrospective narrative. In the framing story, Lazarus has decided that life is no longer worth living, but,in what is described as a reverse Arabian Nights scenario, agrees not to end his life for as long as his companion, chief executive of the Howard families and descendant Ira Weatherall, will listen to his stories.
Can a Adam and Eve Populate the Earth?
- the question is, can a man and a woman, populate the earth.
- like adam and eve.
- let's say they have 20 children. let's say 10 boys and 10 girls.
- now, they, gonna sex. aka incest.
- but the problem is, due to biology, they have high chance of defect babies.
- so the question is, which gonna win, sex or defect?
so, the answer seems to be, if we only allow 2 beginning seed, eg a man and a woman, the chance of survival of humanity, is not high. we don't know the exact probabality. but, say maybe between 20% to 60% success.
a more practical question is probably, if we begin with say 5 couples, will they populate the earth. the answer for that, is yes for sure.