In message <199707031738.KAA07636 at lists1.best.com>, Kieran Mullen writes [on genetic technology]:
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Before you dismiss this note that the Whorl is rife with relatively high level technology that the Cargo don't understand but still use.
One thing that intruiges me about the tecnology is that some
of it seems similar to our own (Shiprock seems to be reinforced concrete, Sacred Windows seem to be cathode-ray tubes-not even a flat display) yet some of it is quite advanced - Chems and their programming; the ability to make a spacecraft out of an asteroid. Maybe some technology has lasted better than others, but I suspect this is the early stages of the split level in technology seen more vividly in TBoTNS. The Chems could have been imported from outside Urth, though exactly who would do it is still a mystery.
Tercel