Short Story with a simple form of machine evolution











up vote
3
down vote

favorite
1












This story Starts out like the standard "Planet of the Apes" routine: Space voyagers from Earth get caught in some sort of warp and return to a recognizable Earth, but the civilization they knew is long gone. In this story, however, all macro biological life has disappeared completely, to be replaced by a wilderness of feral machines, many of them replicating the standard biological forms: amulatory predators/prey (analogous to animals), sessile energy accumulators (like plants), even sea "creatures". Some predators are able to use parts of their prey directly, although most incorporate some kind of smelter or other recycling feature that allows them to mine basic materials from prey. Explosives are part of the repertoire of prey defenses, hinting that some of this may have been kicked off by humans tinkering with autonomous machines meant for warfare. I think it was by a well-known SF author, like, say, Robert Silverberg. I believe it dates back to the 1980s, could have encountered it in a collection of older stuff, but it's definitely post-60s, as integrated chips are mentioned explicitly as a resource.










share|improve this question









New contributor




willibro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
























    up vote
    3
    down vote

    favorite
    1












    This story Starts out like the standard "Planet of the Apes" routine: Space voyagers from Earth get caught in some sort of warp and return to a recognizable Earth, but the civilization they knew is long gone. In this story, however, all macro biological life has disappeared completely, to be replaced by a wilderness of feral machines, many of them replicating the standard biological forms: amulatory predators/prey (analogous to animals), sessile energy accumulators (like plants), even sea "creatures". Some predators are able to use parts of their prey directly, although most incorporate some kind of smelter or other recycling feature that allows them to mine basic materials from prey. Explosives are part of the repertoire of prey defenses, hinting that some of this may have been kicked off by humans tinkering with autonomous machines meant for warfare. I think it was by a well-known SF author, like, say, Robert Silverberg. I believe it dates back to the 1980s, could have encountered it in a collection of older stuff, but it's definitely post-60s, as integrated chips are mentioned explicitly as a resource.










    share|improve this question









    New contributor




    willibro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.






















      up vote
      3
      down vote

      favorite
      1









      up vote
      3
      down vote

      favorite
      1






      1





      This story Starts out like the standard "Planet of the Apes" routine: Space voyagers from Earth get caught in some sort of warp and return to a recognizable Earth, but the civilization they knew is long gone. In this story, however, all macro biological life has disappeared completely, to be replaced by a wilderness of feral machines, many of them replicating the standard biological forms: amulatory predators/prey (analogous to animals), sessile energy accumulators (like plants), even sea "creatures". Some predators are able to use parts of their prey directly, although most incorporate some kind of smelter or other recycling feature that allows them to mine basic materials from prey. Explosives are part of the repertoire of prey defenses, hinting that some of this may have been kicked off by humans tinkering with autonomous machines meant for warfare. I think it was by a well-known SF author, like, say, Robert Silverberg. I believe it dates back to the 1980s, could have encountered it in a collection of older stuff, but it's definitely post-60s, as integrated chips are mentioned explicitly as a resource.










      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      willibro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      This story Starts out like the standard "Planet of the Apes" routine: Space voyagers from Earth get caught in some sort of warp and return to a recognizable Earth, but the civilization they knew is long gone. In this story, however, all macro biological life has disappeared completely, to be replaced by a wilderness of feral machines, many of them replicating the standard biological forms: amulatory predators/prey (analogous to animals), sessile energy accumulators (like plants), even sea "creatures". Some predators are able to use parts of their prey directly, although most incorporate some kind of smelter or other recycling feature that allows them to mine basic materials from prey. Explosives are part of the repertoire of prey defenses, hinting that some of this may have been kicked off by humans tinkering with autonomous machines meant for warfare. I think it was by a well-known SF author, like, say, Robert Silverberg. I believe it dates back to the 1980s, could have encountered it in a collection of older stuff, but it's definitely post-60s, as integrated chips are mentioned explicitly as a resource.







      story-identification short-stories evolution






      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      willibro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      willibro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited 3 hours ago





















      New contributor




      willibro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      asked 3 hours ago









      willibro

      163




      163




      New contributor




      willibro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.





      New contributor





      willibro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






      willibro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






















          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes

















          up vote
          4
          down vote













          This is probably Poul Anderson's story "Epilogue" which fits all of the details you mention. There's a discussion of the story at http://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2013/08/epilogue.html and another at https://polaris93.livejournal.com/2745134.html. It was first published in Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction, March 1962 and has been reprinted many times, see the ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?61784






          share|improve this answer




























            up vote
            1
            down vote













            A novel, not a short story, is a quirky tale by James Hogan, Code of the Lifemaker. 1983. ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=code+of+the+lifemaker&type=Fiction+Titles
            (Though ISFDB does say an "excerpt" was published as a story.)



            Somewhat humorous. Reasonably good (not Hogan's best, not his worst).



            Includes a prologue with a pretty entertaining description of how the moon Titan gets "colonized" by a species of completely self-aware robots. How they live, reproduce, have politics and governments, etc. Some of the robots are "people" and others are "animals".



            And then mankind detects odd sporadic radio signals from there and decides to investigate. For some reason, some of the scientific/research crew going out there consists of a "mind reading" charlatan and his tight crew of accomplices.



            These images of the cover will give you an idea: google image search



            (Even if it isn't the story you're thinking of check it out.)





            share





















              Your Answer








              StackExchange.ready(function() {
              var channelOptions = {
              tags: "".split(" "),
              id: "186"
              };
              initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

              StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
              // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
              if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
              StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
              createEditor();
              });
              }
              else {
              createEditor();
              }
              });

              function createEditor() {
              StackExchange.prepareEditor({
              heartbeatType: 'answer',
              convertImagesToLinks: false,
              noModals: true,
              showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
              reputationToPostImages: null,
              bindNavPrevention: true,
              postfix: "",
              imageUploader: {
              brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
              contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
              allowUrls: true
              },
              noCode: true, onDemand: true,
              discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
              ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
              });


              }
              });






              willibro is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










              draft saved

              draft discarded


















              StackExchange.ready(
              function () {
              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f200016%2fshort-story-with-a-simple-form-of-machine-evolution%23new-answer', 'question_page');
              }
              );

              Post as a guest















              Required, but never shown

























              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes








              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes









              active

              oldest

              votes






              active

              oldest

              votes








              up vote
              4
              down vote













              This is probably Poul Anderson's story "Epilogue" which fits all of the details you mention. There's a discussion of the story at http://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2013/08/epilogue.html and another at https://polaris93.livejournal.com/2745134.html. It was first published in Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction, March 1962 and has been reprinted many times, see the ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?61784






              share|improve this answer

























                up vote
                4
                down vote













                This is probably Poul Anderson's story "Epilogue" which fits all of the details you mention. There's a discussion of the story at http://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2013/08/epilogue.html and another at https://polaris93.livejournal.com/2745134.html. It was first published in Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction, March 1962 and has been reprinted many times, see the ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?61784






                share|improve this answer























                  up vote
                  4
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  4
                  down vote









                  This is probably Poul Anderson's story "Epilogue" which fits all of the details you mention. There's a discussion of the story at http://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2013/08/epilogue.html and another at https://polaris93.livejournal.com/2745134.html. It was first published in Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction, March 1962 and has been reprinted many times, see the ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?61784






                  share|improve this answer












                  This is probably Poul Anderson's story "Epilogue" which fits all of the details you mention. There's a discussion of the story at http://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2013/08/epilogue.html and another at https://polaris93.livejournal.com/2745134.html. It was first published in Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction, March 1962 and has been reprinted many times, see the ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?61784







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered 3 hours ago









                  Mark Olson

                  11.1k13767




                  11.1k13767
























                      up vote
                      1
                      down vote













                      A novel, not a short story, is a quirky tale by James Hogan, Code of the Lifemaker. 1983. ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=code+of+the+lifemaker&type=Fiction+Titles
                      (Though ISFDB does say an "excerpt" was published as a story.)



                      Somewhat humorous. Reasonably good (not Hogan's best, not his worst).



                      Includes a prologue with a pretty entertaining description of how the moon Titan gets "colonized" by a species of completely self-aware robots. How they live, reproduce, have politics and governments, etc. Some of the robots are "people" and others are "animals".



                      And then mankind detects odd sporadic radio signals from there and decides to investigate. For some reason, some of the scientific/research crew going out there consists of a "mind reading" charlatan and his tight crew of accomplices.



                      These images of the cover will give you an idea: google image search



                      (Even if it isn't the story you're thinking of check it out.)





                      share

























                        up vote
                        1
                        down vote













                        A novel, not a short story, is a quirky tale by James Hogan, Code of the Lifemaker. 1983. ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=code+of+the+lifemaker&type=Fiction+Titles
                        (Though ISFDB does say an "excerpt" was published as a story.)



                        Somewhat humorous. Reasonably good (not Hogan's best, not his worst).



                        Includes a prologue with a pretty entertaining description of how the moon Titan gets "colonized" by a species of completely self-aware robots. How they live, reproduce, have politics and governments, etc. Some of the robots are "people" and others are "animals".



                        And then mankind detects odd sporadic radio signals from there and decides to investigate. For some reason, some of the scientific/research crew going out there consists of a "mind reading" charlatan and his tight crew of accomplices.



                        These images of the cover will give you an idea: google image search



                        (Even if it isn't the story you're thinking of check it out.)





                        share























                          up vote
                          1
                          down vote










                          up vote
                          1
                          down vote









                          A novel, not a short story, is a quirky tale by James Hogan, Code of the Lifemaker. 1983. ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=code+of+the+lifemaker&type=Fiction+Titles
                          (Though ISFDB does say an "excerpt" was published as a story.)



                          Somewhat humorous. Reasonably good (not Hogan's best, not his worst).



                          Includes a prologue with a pretty entertaining description of how the moon Titan gets "colonized" by a species of completely self-aware robots. How they live, reproduce, have politics and governments, etc. Some of the robots are "people" and others are "animals".



                          And then mankind detects odd sporadic radio signals from there and decides to investigate. For some reason, some of the scientific/research crew going out there consists of a "mind reading" charlatan and his tight crew of accomplices.



                          These images of the cover will give you an idea: google image search



                          (Even if it isn't the story you're thinking of check it out.)





                          share












                          A novel, not a short story, is a quirky tale by James Hogan, Code of the Lifemaker. 1983. ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=code+of+the+lifemaker&type=Fiction+Titles
                          (Though ISFDB does say an "excerpt" was published as a story.)



                          Somewhat humorous. Reasonably good (not Hogan's best, not his worst).



                          Includes a prologue with a pretty entertaining description of how the moon Titan gets "colonized" by a species of completely self-aware robots. How they live, reproduce, have politics and governments, etc. Some of the robots are "people" and others are "animals".



                          And then mankind detects odd sporadic radio signals from there and decides to investigate. For some reason, some of the scientific/research crew going out there consists of a "mind reading" charlatan and his tight crew of accomplices.



                          These images of the cover will give you an idea: google image search



                          (Even if it isn't the story you're thinking of check it out.)






                          share











                          share


                          share










                          answered 9 mins ago









                          davidbak

                          8951616




                          8951616






















                              willibro is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










                              draft saved

                              draft discarded


















                              willibro is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













                              willibro is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












                              willibro is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
















                              Thanks for contributing an answer to Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange!


                              • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                              But avoid



                              • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                              • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                              To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





                              Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


                              Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


                              • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                              But avoid



                              • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                              • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                              To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                              draft saved


                              draft discarded














                              StackExchange.ready(
                              function () {
                              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f200016%2fshort-story-with-a-simple-form-of-machine-evolution%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                              }
                              );

                              Post as a guest















                              Required, but never shown





















































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown

































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown







                              Popular posts from this blog

                              404 Error Contact Form 7 ajax form submitting

                              How to know if a Active Directory user can login interactively

                              Refactoring coordinates for Minecraft Pi buildings written in Python