Insect Cyborgs

The science-fiction-writing brothers Arkady & Boris Strugatskii have written of a future in which humans use spaceships that are alive; i.e. biologically organims that have been modified by Man to act as space ships etc.

This vision of enhanced animals with electromechanical controllers has been explored in other science-fiction stories; among them in the novel "Sparrowhawk" (1990) by Thomas Easton. His presentation on this topic may be found @ http://technoprobe.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html


These visions have taken a tiny step towards reality since DARPA has started funding research on Insect Cyborgs. Cyborg insects with embedded micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) that will run remotely controlled reconnaissance missions for US military. So far, what is achieved has been the ability to insert a MEMS chip into an insect's pupae, with the adult hatching successfully.

The living space ships, I suppose, are at least a 100 years into the future; which brings us to the world of "Noon: 22 Century".