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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>>Pedro says:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>>If I rememeber correctly there's those hairy humans in
the caves that Severian meets</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>>and scares with the light of The Claw who are
supposedly humans who "regressed"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>>to earlier evolutionary stages. I don't think there's
any scientific basis for this at all, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>>it's another example of Wolfe's Science Fantasy take
on things. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>IIRC, Severian believes that they are normal humans who
have been artificially modified for the purpose the Autarch puts them to. He
even posits that they might be aware that they have been misdeveloped in this
fashion and resent it. Their Neanderthalishness might might havbe only a
coincidental element of a utilitarian design.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>J.</FONT><FONT face=Arial></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>