I remember seeing the collective xmca memory spring into action once before
to produce the reference for a sci-fi story and i'd like to tap that if
possible. The story for which i'm seeking a reference concerns a fanciful
third world war between the us. and the ussr. Each side develops weapons
appropriate to their ideologies as envisioned by the author. The U.S.
develops neutron bombs that kill all the people and spare all the material
infrastructure (capital) while the USSR develops bombs that disintegrate all
the products of human labor (from tooth brushes and clothes to cars,
airplanes, and bridges) but spare all human life. As a result there are
many survivors in the US but none in the USSR. Some of these survivors
manage to walk/travel all the way to Russia where they find a basically
intact material infrastructure which they begin to use. The story ends with
a description of the protagonist survivors who have clearly become Russian
in terms of their psychology/personality even to the point of speaking
Russian.
The internalization metaphor is cute and I wonder if any sci-fi fans out
there in xmca land have ever run across this story and have a ref for it.
Paul H. Dillon
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