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> Over time, we could evolve a branch of humanity, "Homo ares" These were called Belters (as in asteroid belt) in the excellent book series The Expanse, which

> Over time, we could evolve a branch of humanity, "Homo ares" These were called Belters (as in asteroid belt) in the excellent book series The Expanse, which is also an excellent sci-fi show available on Amazon.

ghaff 7y ago
The Expanse is quite good. But the earth/Mars/Belt differences are mostly cultural at least in the TV series. The "Belters" meme in SF has been around for a long time though. See Larry Niven for example. (And I'm sure it's older than that.)
- JdeBP 7y ago
  Jeff Prucher's Brave new words gives its earliest attestation for the word as Niven's Warriors in 1966.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    I would have guessed Heinlein but I don't see evidence he used that particular term although he had similar tropes in his books--e.g. Loonies in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
    - JdeBP 7y ago
      For similar tropes, see the meteor miners in E.E. Smith's Grey Lensman.
  - rootbear 7y ago
    Oh, that looks like an interesting book! I read a lot of Niven back in college and I wondered if he invented the word "Belter", for Asteroid Belt dwellers.
- tomjakubowski 7y ago
  Beltalowdah physiological difficulty in adapting to gravity is a recurring plot point on the show. The culture difference exists in part because no Belter can survive long periods on Earth.
- rthomas6 7y ago
  In the books it's MUCH more than cultural, to the point that belters are unable to visit Earth without some difficulty due to too much gravity. Belters are described as much taller and more slender that people born and raised on Earth.
- nitrogen 7y ago
  The novels portray each group has having more significant physiological differences. Naomi is supposed to be quite a bit taller than Holden, for example.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    Makes sense. Easier to do in books than on the screen, especially a TV show. It's logistically just a lot easier to have everyone look like ordinary humans modulo superficial styling (and acting) differences.
logfromblammo 7y ago
Or evolve a branch of humanity that uses non-biological, radiation-hardened, easily-maintained, low-mass machines, instead of meat that doesn't grow correctly in low acceleration, uses chemical energy storage with no power generation capacity, and which gets scrambled without megagrams of shielding. That is, develop general AI with a sense of responsibility and filial duty to its parent species, and which won't turn us all into paper clips.
- ryanmercer 7y ago
  This has been done in various hard science fiction novels. One series, the name escapes me at the moment, actually has one group of engineered human warriors that are quite different mentally from normal humans but they can survive in vacuum and have some insect-like traits physically. They can just drift through vacuum and quietly attach to the hull of an enemy ship. Then you have the Old Man's War universe where the soldiers have engineered bodies and synthetic blood that they have control over (they can explode mosquito like creatures that try to feed on them as an example). B. V. Larson's Star Force series sees characters changed by both nano bots and specifically-grown intelligent (as a colony) vats of bacteria. Many science fiction series involve brain backus. If I'm not mistaken Peter F. Hamilton has them in his Commonwealth Saga and the Altered Carbon books and show have it. As does the previously mentioned Old Man's War series by Scalzi. Daniel Suarez's book (his near-future hard science fiction books are quite good) Change Agent involves lots of serious genetic engineering, including changing one's entire appearance (rather dangerously) with a virus. I think if we can manage to stay alive long enough as a species, we will be able to at least do everything except for the nano bots and possible even those if we get some significant physics and computational breakthroughs. As a pre-teen in the mid 1990's a friend and I wanted to turn ourselves into anthropormphic creatures not unlike the creatures in the Island of Dr. Moreau (I believe it was actually the 1996 film adaptation that gave us the idea) and figured somehow a bacteriophage could be created to alter a host at a cellular level but we figured you'd need to find a way to selectively edit genes (that now exists with CRISPR and the like), suppress the immune system to prevent death from it overreacting during the process, and control the replication rate so the body wouldn't burn up with fever or have some sort of energy issue. If a couple of bored pre-teens could think that up while playing a MUD one afternoon, someone someday is going to start really tinkering with humans at a serious scale. It's already being done by biohackers.
magduf 7y ago
Sorry to be pedantic, but no, those people were called "Martians". (His term, "homo ares", is referring to Ares, the god also known as Mars.) The Belters lived in the Asteroid Belt, and were opposed to both the Terrans and the Martians. The Belters were the most different biologically because the gravity is so low, whereas the Martians got to enjoy the relatively high 1/3 g gravity of Mars.

ghaff 7y ago

The Expanse is quite good. But the earth/Mars/Belt differences are mostly cultural at least in the TV series. The "Belters" meme in SF has been around for a long time though. See Larry Niven for example. (And I'm sure it's older than that.)

JdeBP 7y ago
Jeff Prucher's Brave new words gives its earliest attestation for the word as Niven's Warriors in 1966.
- ghaff 7y ago
  I would have guessed Heinlein but I don't see evidence he used that particular term although he had similar tropes in his books--e.g. Loonies in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
  - JdeBP 7y ago
    For similar tropes, see the meteor miners in E.E. Smith's Grey Lensman.
- rootbear 7y ago
  Oh, that looks like an interesting book! I read a lot of Niven back in college and I wondered if he invented the word "Belter", for Asteroid Belt dwellers.
tomjakubowski 7y ago
Beltalowdah physiological difficulty in adapting to gravity is a recurring plot point on the show. The culture difference exists in part because no Belter can survive long periods on Earth.
rthomas6 7y ago
In the books it's MUCH more than cultural, to the point that belters are unable to visit Earth without some difficulty due to too much gravity. Belters are described as much taller and more slender that people born and raised on Earth.
nitrogen 7y ago
The novels portray each group has having more significant physiological differences. Naomi is supposed to be quite a bit taller than Holden, for example.
- ghaff 7y ago
  Makes sense. Easier to do in books than on the screen, especially a TV show. It's logistically just a lot easier to have everyone look like ordinary humans modulo superficial styling (and acting) differences.

logfromblammo 7y ago

Or evolve a branch of humanity that uses non-biological, radiation-hardened, easily-maintained, low-mass machines, instead of meat that doesn't grow correctly in low acceleration, uses chemical energy storage with no power generation capacity, and which gets scrambled without megagrams of shielding. That is, develop general AI with a sense of responsibility and filial duty to its parent species, and which won't turn us all into paper clips.

ryanmercer 7y ago
This has been done in various hard science fiction novels. One series, the name escapes me at the moment, actually has one group of engineered human warriors that are quite different mentally from normal humans but they can survive in vacuum and have some insect-like traits physically. They can just drift through vacuum and quietly attach to the hull of an enemy ship. Then you have the Old Man's War universe where the soldiers have engineered bodies and synthetic blood that they have control over (they can explode mosquito like creatures that try to feed on them as an example). B. V. Larson's Star Force series sees characters changed by both nano bots and specifically-grown intelligent (as a colony) vats of bacteria. Many science fiction series involve brain backus. If I'm not mistaken Peter F. Hamilton has them in his Commonwealth Saga and the Altered Carbon books and show have it. As does the previously mentioned Old Man's War series by Scalzi. Daniel Suarez's book (his near-future hard science fiction books are quite good) Change Agent involves lots of serious genetic engineering, including changing one's entire appearance (rather dangerously) with a virus. I think if we can manage to stay alive long enough as a species, we will be able to at least do everything except for the nano bots and possible even those if we get some significant physics and computational breakthroughs. As a pre-teen in the mid 1990's a friend and I wanted to turn ourselves into anthropormphic creatures not unlike the creatures in the Island of Dr. Moreau (I believe it was actually the 1996 film adaptation that gave us the idea) and figured somehow a bacteriophage could be created to alter a host at a cellular level but we figured you'd need to find a way to selectively edit genes (that now exists with CRISPR and the like), suppress the immune system to prevent death from it overreacting during the process, and control the replication rate so the body wouldn't burn up with fever or have some sort of energy issue. If a couple of bored pre-teens could think that up while playing a MUD one afternoon, someone someday is going to start really tinkering with humans at a serious scale. It's already being done by biohackers.

magduf 7y ago

Sorry to be pedantic, but no, those people were called "Martians". (His term, "homo ares", is referring to Ares, the god also known as Mars.) The Belters lived in the Asteroid Belt, and were opposed to both the Terrans and the Martians. The Belters were the most different biologically because the gravity is so low, whereas the Martians got to enjoy the relatively high 1/3 g gravity of Mars.