I have just obtained a copy of “Blood Music” by Greg Bear which was recommended by Henry. In this book, Virgil Ulam, a molecular biologist, develops “intelligent cellular matter”. The company he works for orders to destroy it, but he manages to smuggle it by injecting it into his body.
It is an old book (published in 1985) and the way Virgil created the intelligent cells did not sound very convincing to me, but it has been an interesting read so far. In this book, the author sort of defines cell consciousness in bacteria: ”...the cells developed their own memory and the ability to process and act upon environmental information”. In the end, Virgil manages to train lymphocytes to ”interact as much as possible with each other and with their environment – a much more complex miniature glass maze”
I don’t think lymphocytes would ever learn how to navigate themselves through a maze, but I agree with the idea that conscious cellular matter should be able to perceive and interpret external environmental information and respond to it. It will also need a memory storage, because otherwise all it can do will be reflex.
Later in the book Virgil’s mother asks him a question: ”Are they friendly?...If they can think, then they feel something…”. Umm, good question. I will answer that next time.
Blood Music was good, but I didn’t think it was as good as Darwin’s Radio. Then again, I first read DR while researching the evolutionary impact of endogenous retroviruses, so maybe I’m just biased. Bear seems to have a good grasp of things like lab dynamics though, and can tell a cracking good story too!
I read it in the 80s, when cyberpunk was getting going. I enjoyed it then, perhaps I should re-read it and see how I have aged.
Of course, there are good reasons to only say nice things about Bear’s work.
I’m really glad you sought out Blood Music, Kojiro. Blood Music started out as a short story, which is well worth reading. The later, novel-length version gets into the concepts more, but I still think the shorter version packs more of a punch.
“Bladerunner” is still the visual reference for future even current bioengineers. The authors I think who really put a harder edge onto the scifi scence vis a vis bioengineering were William Gibson and Rudy Rucker (read ‘Software’ and ‘Wetware’).