#published 1966

[jokeanddaggerdept]

[smokey347]

The Eyes of Heisenberg, is a 1966 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. Originally serialized as Heisenberg's Eyes in Galaxy magazine between June and August 1966, it was issued by Berkley in the same year. The title refers to Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, here applied both on the molecular (genetic) level (producing the atypical embryo the story hinges on) and on a macro, societal level.

The short novel takes places in an initially unspecified future in which society is rigidly stratified into two genetic and reproductive classes: the "Optimen" (who include women) and the "Folk." All humans are mandatorily genetically reviewed and modified ("cut") just after conception by surgeons answering to the Optimen, a ruling class of genetically superior humans.

The Optimen are distinguished by genetic excellence, but also by a unique vocation; their metabolisms are such that treatment with the life-extension enzymes available to most members of the society instead induces true biological immortality. The Optimen exercise absolute dictatorial control over Earth from an enclave in North America. They hold global society in stasis, both politically and through continuous manipulation of the human genome. Only a small minority of the population is permitted to reproduce, and that only under strict supervision - the vast majority of the Folk are "Sterries," kept sterilethrough an ever-present prophylactic gas. The Optimen are naturally sterile.

The Folk revere the Optimen with a quasi-religious fervor, centered on the mantra "They are the power that loves us and protects us." The adulation is however not universal; an anti-Optiman resistance exists, in the form of the "Parents Underground" and the "Couriers," both networks sponsored by the Cyborgs, mechanically enhanced humans long opposed to the immortals.

As the story unfolds, the setting - which had seemed a relatively near future, perhaps a few centuries at most - is revealed to be at least 80,000 years distant (the age given for the oldest Optimen). The extraordinary control of the Optimen is such that late 21st century life has been the norm for millennia.

It is noted that the Optimen have deliberately stunted technological progress. The Cyborgs are implied to be rather long-lived themselves - an Optiman-Cyborg War is briefly mentioned, and it is implied as having taken place in the quite distant past, but it is elsewhere stated that this was no more than three Cyborg generations ago.

Most of the book takes place in the "Seatac Megalopolis" - apparently incorporating present-day Seattle and Tacoma - and the Optiman enclave.

Continuing a theme present in many of Herbert's other works, the novel is principally concerned with the problems inherent in or caused by the inflexibility of a static system. The Durants find themselves a cog in the high-level machinations of competing factions, none of which have their own best interests at heart.

A number of Herbert's other common themes pop up, including his interest in complex, rigidly codified or ritualized behaviors, reflected in the precise etiquette expected of those granted an audience with the Tuyere. Herbert's interest in exotic forms of communication takes the shape of the secret language of the Couriers, conveyed through subtle palm pressures during handholding. The longevity of the Optimen prefigures) Leto II of the Dune saga.