Friday, May 24, 2013

On Smizmars

In the tv show Futurama, one of the alien races has a radically different biology - when they feel strong feelings of love, their skin becomes receptive to genetic material, which allows them to become pregnant.

Along with this unique biology comes a unique social structure. The aliens can potentially become pregnant by anyone when they are receptive. However, what matters to them is the person who inspired the feelings of love in the first place. That person is called a "smizmar".

This becomes a fascinating construct to me. It puts emotions on a far higher level than genetics. It understands that not everything works out as it should, but that social evolution can smooth out the mistakes of physical evolution. 

This concept that the person who inspires the feelings of love is the real parent and partner is novel enough to try exploring. What would you discover? Would it stop episodes of Jerry Springer from being made, or would the whole system fall apart due to human jealousy?

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