Page 43 - An Evening with Maxwell's Daemons

Pluripotentates

“While that oddity was being digested, a representative of the
exobiological group presented their report. A number of small
creatures, none greater than thirty centimeters in diameter had been
photographed. Despite having different numbers of function-driven
limbs and body types, all seemed to have a basic resemblance. Their
divergence could not have occurred very long before; but that short
span of generations was belied by their high degree of
specialization. To study that phenomenon more closely, they had
set a trap and captured one of those fauna and were planning to
chloroform and dissect it. The captain ordered them to wait,
pending approval from the soft-science team; the latter had just
come onboard and were heading directly for the meeting.”
“To the amazement of the assembly, the ethologist and the
sociolinguist came rushing in breathlessly, disheveled and dirty.
They gasped out their report. Their number had been three,
including a behavioral psychologist. That person had been taken
captive by a native species. All three of them, in fact, following a
brief struggle, had been held for several hours in a dimly-lit cave.
The locals tried repeatedly to communicate with the earthlings; only
the sociolinguist had the training and ability get the gist of the
strange gestures and sounds. It came down to a simple exchange of
prisoners. If the invaders handed over their compatriot intact, then
the human hostage would be released. The other two scientists were
ejected, minus their equipment, and made their way as fast as they
could to the ship.”
“Again the captain sought assurance that the local was
unharmed. One of the exobiologists quickly exited, returning
immediately. Yes, he reported, all they had done was take a few
minute tissue samples to determine the genetic nature of its cells.
And they had made a discovery: The creature was pluripotent: it
had the ability to alter itself phenotypically in a host of ways,
accounting for the observed variation of types as well as their
familial resemblance. That revelation stimulated a realization by one
of the geologists: now, he said, we have a theory about how this
planet and its inhabitants coexist. Effectively, owing to the repeated
ecological catastrophes caused by volcanism, the only sort of animal

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