Children of Time is a 2015 science fiction novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
In the distant future, humanity seeks to create new habitats for itself on distant planets, terraforming them and seeding them with life. Dr. Avrana Kern is heading one such project, orbiting the tentatively named "Kern's World", where the plan is to release monkeys infected with a nanovirus that will accelerate their evolution. Through an act of sabotage from an anti-technology group that has also destroyed much of Earth, the monkeys are never released, and the virus instead infects a species of spider, Portia labiata. The book follows the evolution of the spiders and their eventual civilisation, as well as a remnant of humanity that fled to Kern's World hoping to find paradise.
also children of ruin and children of memory, the sequels, are really good
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sexism
I have a difficult time calling myself and being called a woman but not for gender reasons I don't think. I like girl and lady. I think it's because growing up, the context I would hear the word "woman" being used the most is my dad referring to my mom, and tying her fulfilment of her "biblical duties" to her womanhood. I think it's hard for me to separate the word from that connotation, even though I know it's bullshit. Like every time someone calls me a woman I feel my dad calling me one and I hate it.
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Sometimes we just have personal reasons why certain gendered terms don’t work for us. Hate your dad, though.
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Yeah I do too. He sucks in so many ways. If my brother wasn't living with him I would have cut him off entirely by now.
I'm kind of on the lookout for other terms I can go by (maybe even some nongendered ones 👀). I have the suspicion that I haven't found my favorite yet.