In many stories a character who attempts to play God is punished. Why then is Kidder in Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God" allowed to succeed?

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

Answers

I believe he is allowed to succeed because he is not someone playing God for the selfish purposes of taking over the world or increasing his own personal gain. He plays God solely for the purpose of the furthering of science and for the sake of creation. His ambitions can't be exactly dubbed 'noble', but they can't be seen as terribly selfish or malevolent intent as most God-like figures are prone to. All he really wants is to be left alone to discover things for the rest of his days, and when interfered with, the right of the situation lies with him and he deals with his adversary accordingly.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

Kidder is allowed to succeed because his creation of life isn't in the classic overreacher mold. His is an attempt to study life from a purely scientific angle. His form of creation isn't looking for power: it's looking for knowledge. Kidder doesn't care if what his creations create is beneficial to humanity or not. His interest in the project is purely intellectual.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

Kidder is allowed to play god because of the way he treated his subjects. In other Mad Scientist stories the scientists create soemthing with free-will, and then they abuse it, making it hate them. In this story, Kidder carefully controls everything about his little world, until they are unable to live without him. It reminded me of the Bible. GOd starts out in the old testament as vengful and mighty, later in the new testament he became much more forgiving as humans develope. This is what is happening, Kidder starts out as vengful, but then turns to soemwhat forgiving because he needs his people. He starts to call them his children. The point is that Kidder loves his Microcosmic world like God in the bible loves our world. This is the reason that Kidder is not destroyed by his creations, he loves them like children.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2005

I think the reason can be derivived from our own life cycle. Children grow up and have children. I think hummanity represented by Kidder grew up in the story to point where it could "reproduce" in the sense of creating its own child race. THe shield represents our own leaving of the nest and the creation of our own, much the same way children grow up and leave the house.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2005

First of all, I would like to comment on the extreme bossage of the author's name. The sturgeon is one of the coolest fish around, and "Theodore" really seals the deal.

As for the question - I think that Kidder is allowed to succeed because he never really challenges God in his own thinking. He never plans to control the world (thus becoming a god by his own right) or even wants money. His purposes are purely scientific. Furthermore, Kidder and his Neoterics get shut in the lab by that huge impregnable wall, making it impossible for them to actually mess with what God created. (If the Neoterics do leave the fortress long after Kidder dies, then maybe they will be crushed in a divine manner. However, that is a whole other story.) Lastly, Kidder only created life, not the universe. Humans have been creating tools for millenia that are naturally found in nature, but that does not make us blasphemers or demigods. With Kidder's attitude towards his creation, I don't think that the divine powers would care.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2005

I think that Kidder's exception is that he actually seems to treat the beasts well, and has no mind for actual world domination. This is the same person that found Darwin 'amusing.' He was a genius himself: not a mad genius, but a genius. He tends to not think of others except the Neoterics, and doesnt really care about anything other humans do. He doesnt really play God, he just plays... more of a bigger brother.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2005

I feel that Kidder is allowed to suceed in "Microcosmic God" because even though his actions may seem morally worng in our point of view (manipulating an intelligent species into acting as his slaves) when compared to the rest of the characters presented to us, Kidder is one of the most logical and morally correct character of them all. Look at Conant; need I say more? He is a vile, loathsom being. And the other characters are not all that admirable either. When the three disscenting workers are shot, the rest of the engineers and labourers do nothing- sure they're scared but, there against a couple of guys on an island without their power souce yet. The White House, we see a fine specimen of humanity go mad and attack the potential source of destruction of the entire city. So Kidder, in comparison, is not that bad.

Also, I would like to note that the best quote is when Kidder uses "savvy" as a verb. And Erik- did you know he was actually named Edward? Check out wikipedia

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2005

Perhaps Kidder does not recieve that typical punishment for playing God is that he, at first, sees them as pets or experiments, and then he sees them as children. He never actually calls himself their God. The truth is, he also does not try to create a race to rule over but instead he creates a race to solve problems. Also you may notice a small warning at the end about the Neoterics coming out of the shield. Perhaps they, in the end, will be the punishment. The truth is, Kidder is too ignorant but good to be punished for his attempt to solve humanity's complexities.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2005

The main reason I can come up with for Kidder's not being punished is that he is not creating or using the Neoterics in a selfish way. Examples of selfish ways would be wanting to take over the world, gaining money, and stuff like that. But that brings up the question of Doctor Moreau who didnt seem like he was trying to take over the world either. He created his 'people' for the sake of creating them so that he could make the best one for himself. That is different from Kidder who created the Neoterics to further his research, they were a way to get a result rather than the actual result.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2005

well now that it's really late at night (early in morning) and everyone has taken the good posts, I'll just aggree with everyone and say that Kidder is allowed to because he does not plan to abuse his God-like abilities. He doesn't abuse this new race or force them into slavery or anything like that. I mean he's no more than a thief. "I've made this sweet race of dudes and I'll have them build stuff and then take their ideas. Why? Because I can and it could help out a lot of people and make me look cool." It sounds to me like the thinking of a child, not a god, or a madman.

the ror

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2005