You've almost forgotten that the mouth of the whale (at the end) is in space, yet they were vomited back into the ship (and not even the lowest point) - how did that happen? And regardless of whether they were torturing it or not, the poor thing had 'surgically implanted' tubes which were connected to lift shafts and voting booths. Also why would a creature living in a vacuum eat organic food rather than hydrogen or asteroids? Why did the space whales die out - they also live a very long time. Don't forget the science. The ship wouldn't stop just because the propulsion was turned off - it's in a vacuum. Why was there gravity at all? Still, 9/10 for me.

Phil and David are quite right. Chris, don't the opposite sex what we really think of them. Keep it quiet, man or they'll never fuck any of us again! (For once, I agree with Shuggy. I second his question too.) David said, "If that's true, men should want to have fewer children so as to maximize the quantity of human capital investment he can afford on each one." But surely we've seen exactly that since infant and child mortality became relatively rare and contraception became safe, cheap, and not unpleasant? Families in the West have shrunk, and the reason for that is probably the one you give. Gerard said, "Statement-of-the-obvious-first: men who have a choice (alphas like your good self) will select women for three primary qualities: looks, physique and skills (in-the-bed variety). Not intelligence, not earnings power, not cooking skills, childcare, ..." I think there are a few things wrong here. There are very few such men, and there are a lot of good-looking women. Or rather, there are enough very good-looking women that any man who is remotely discriminating would have to select on other qualities. I'm sure Ted Turner would not have married Jane Fonda had she not been good-looking and that goes for Sarkozy and Carla Bruni, but they're also very accomplished women. And this isn't even taking into account that women have a choice in this too, and that sociability and character matter a great deal too.