# ID this Sci-Fi novel **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 10, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677 "2016-01-10T12:40:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/1 "2016-01-10T12:40:19Z")
This should be an easy one, I think it’s quite well known, and I remember a few details; however, googling didn’t turn anything up. So, there’s an expedition to some distant planet by means of a generation ship (I think); at least, there are children born on the spaceship, which are being tutored by an intelligent computer system—if I remember correctly, the ship was sent on its path, with the children being born such that they are grown up and have the skills necessary in order to fulfill the ship’s mission by the time they arrive. The children’s names are derived from the greek alphabet in order of their birth—alpha, beth, and so on. There is some sophisticated VR technology on the ship, kind of a bed or tube that you can lie down in, which then connects to your central nervous system and directly stimulates it to create the necessary impressions. At one point, they discover that you can create a kind of ‘hive-mind’ by wiring several of these things together, and a splinter group lives as such a mind for a while. One scene I remember is that there is some kind of math test, but several of the children don’t finish, or finish by cheating—one reprograms her computer, another discovers a problem that’s more interesting to her, which she then spends hours trying to solve, and so on. Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/2 "2016-01-10T14:43:27Z")
Is it any of these? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Generation\_ship\_fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Generation_ship_fiction) > **[List of Generation Ship Science Fiction Novels/Short Stories](https://sciencefictionruminations.com/sci-fi-article-index/list-of-generation-ship-novels-and-short-stories/)** > > I recently checked out a copy of Simone Caroti’s scholarly The Generation Starship In Science Fiction: A Critical History, 1934-2001 (2011) (amazon link) from my library — its appendix contains a w… [http://bestsciencefictionbooks.com/generation-ship-science-fiction.php](http://bestsciencefictionbooks.com/generation-ship-science-fiction.php) > **[Generation Ships - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GenerationShips)** > > If the laws of physics don't allow Faster-Than-Light Travel, it's going to take a long time to colonize the stars. If you can't get close enough to lightspeed to take advantage of Time Dilation, don't have the medical technology for functional … > **[The Sword and Laser - 2012 Reads: LW: Other SF books involving generation...](https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/961646-lw-other-sf-books-involving-generation-ships)** > > 31 discussion posts. Louie said: I enjoy this particular science fiction storytelling device. Does anyone know of any other novels that have generation s... > **[Generation ship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship)** > > A generation ship, or generation starship, is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels at sub-light speed. Since such a ship might require hundreds to thousands of years to reach nearby stars, the original occupants of a generation ship would grow old and die, leaving their descendants to continue traveling. > Rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard was the first to write about long-duration interstellar journeys in his "The Ultimate Migration" (1918). In this he described the death ... I Googled on “generation ship in fiction”. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/3 "2016-01-10T15:17:56Z")
> **[The Dark Beyond the Stars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Beyond_the_Stars)** > > The Dark Beyond the Stars is a 1991 science fiction novel by American writer Frank M. Robinson. It is a Lambda Literary Award winner, published by Orb Books. It tells the story of a generation ship and its crew on a long mission to search for extraterrestrial life in the galaxy and the complex conflict between the Captain and the protagonist, a 17-year-old technician named Sparrow. The Captain is obsessed with continuing to search for alien life in the 2,000-year-old ship, even though it is The s... Wild guess. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/4 "2016-01-10T16:24:39Z")
“Generation ship” was maybe misleading; it’s not continuously inhabited, but rather, there are children born some years before arrival at the ship’s destination (if I remember correctly). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/5 "2016-01-10T16:43:52Z")
How could it not be continuously inhabited? ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/6 "2016-01-10T16:53:39Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > How could it not be continuously inhabited? Well, the children are born artificially, presumably from frozen embryos; then, they’re raised and tutored by an AI (again, if I’m not misremembering). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/7 "2016-01-10T17:00:10Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Well, the children are born artificially, presumably from frozen embryos; then, they’re raised and tutored by an AI (again, if I’m not misremembering). I know of a couple of stories like that (children raised by an AI after (or very late into) an interstellar trip) - one is Vinge’s “Long Shot” and another is Hogan’s Voyage from Yesteryear. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/8 "2016-01-10T17:42:15Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I know of a couple of stories like that (children raised by an AI after (or very late into) an interstellar trip) - one is Vinge’s “Long Shot” and another is Hogan’s Voyage from Yesteryear. Wasn’t it, but it led me to the wikipedia page for [embryo space colonization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryo_space_colonization), where I found the 1982 East German novel _Andymon_; I’m pretty sure that’s it, it fits down to the kids being named Alfa, Beth, Gamma, Delth and so on. Not quite sure about the VR beds, but maybe I’m conflating with something from a different source. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/9 "2016-01-10T17:45:29Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > “Generation ship” was maybe misleading; it’s not continuously inhabited, but rather, there are children born some years before arrival at the ship’s destination (if I remember correctly). Perhaps Frederick Pohl’s story “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” or the novel-length version Starburst. People on a long-term space mission and their children born on board become super-intelligent beings. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/10 "2016-01-10T17:45:31Z")
Was there one person who saw a whole generation grow and die because he was periodically suspended and the whole “first generation” was basically to instruct _him_? If so, I’ve read it and might be able to find it but can’t remember the name of the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/11 "2016-01-10T17:51:04Z")
Dark Beyond the Stars came to mind, but I don’t have a clear memory of it. What I am thinking of is a story with the children on the ships with robot caretakers. At some point the caretaker robots are called ‘War Mothers’ I think. There’s some kind of space battle where there’s a problem with some fighter ships being turned into their anti-matter equivalents somehow. That’s all that’s coming to mind. Not sure what or where that’s from. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/12 "2016-01-10T17:55:38Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Wasn’t it, but it led me to the wikipedia page for [embryo space colonization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryo_space_colonization), where I found the 1982 East German novel _Andymon_; I’m pretty sure that’s it, it fits down to the kids being named Alfa, Beth, Gamma, Delth and so on. > > Not quite sure about the VR beds, but maybe I’m conflating with something from a different source. If I can’t help on purpose, I can at least help accidentally… ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-novel/742677/13 "2016-01-10T18:07:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > What I am thinking of is a story with the children on the ships with robot caretakers. At some point the caretaker robots are called ‘War Mothers’ I think. There’s some kind of space battle where there’s a problem with some fighter ships being turned into their anti-matter equivalents somehow. That’s all that’s coming to mind. Not sure what or where that’s from. That’s Greg Bear’s Anvil of Stars (sequel to Forge of God); this review mentions the antimatter bit [SF REVIEWS.NET: Anvil of Stars / Greg Bear ★★★](http://www.sfreviews.net/anvilofstars.html)