After the brief discussion about genetics in class on Monday, I figured I'd talk about my understanding of the genetics involved and how they would affect Oankali form and society. Although our current understanding of genetics limits our engineering methods to basically linking one gene to a single protein or trait, it's become pretty clear in the last decade that our genome is much more complicated than that--we are exponentially more complex than a fruit fly, for example, but we have less than double the actual number of genes that a fruit fly has.

We talked a little bit in class on Monday about the morality of the Oankali. One of the examples used to make the claim that they are immoral was their lack of concern for the human concept of choice. Because the Oankali can read into your heads (sense, read, whatever), they have an uncanny ability to know what humans might REALLY want. Obviously, Joseph's reaction to ooloi sex is one such instance. An even more disturbing example is Nikanj's assumption that Lilith wants a child when she is ready, instantly looking into her thoughts and saying, "I mixed a girl to be a companion to you.

The Oankali in Lilith's Brood are distinctly alien, in many ways – but the difference which persists longest and is most troublesome is their culture – or apparent lack thereof. The Oankali apparently take the view that biology is everything – that, given the scale of a group of humans throughout a lifetime, the genes they have within them ultimately decide the fate of the entires species. They believe that they can predict the lifestyle of the children their ooloi mix before the children are even born.

Throughout my reading of “Dawn,” I found myself torn between where my sympathies should lie. The Oankali seemed compassionate enough and Lilith’s relationship with Nikanj struck me as genuine and surprisingly not creepy. And yet it is difficult to trust the motives of a group of creatures that put humans asleep for centuries and then keep them trapped in a ship. There were moments when Lilith’s resistance annoyed me and then at other times I was shocked by her ability to cohabitate with these seemingly grotesque features.

My first reactions to Lilith's Brood:

1) Heriarchy is not a genetic trait.
2) The Oankali (especially Ooloi) manipulation of humans is immoral.
3) The Oankali are no more moral than humanity, since both are driven by supposedly inescapable genetic tendencies.