Herman the Bull and Tracy the sheep were early genetically modified (or 'transgenic') animals, produced by experiments in the early 1990s to manipulate milk production. Normal animal milk is not suitable for very young human children due it missing certain key proteins that a human mother's milk contains. By giving them certain human genes, scientists were able to breed animals whose milk (or the milk of his female offspring, in Herman's case) also contained the required proteins. The idea is that these animals can be industrially farmed, and their milk can be sold for children in developing countries instead of more expensive food supplements. The "African Punch and Judy show" and reference to Bombay is presumably about the exploitative relationship rich countries have with more poorer ones.
"Today it's a cow, tomorrow it's you" is a warning that genetic modification will not stop at altering animals, and will eventually be used on humans. The "me and Stephen Hawking" chorus also relates to this. Despite the flippant tone, I think what he's pointing out is that Stephen Hawking, as a carrier of a (possibly) genetically inherited disease, might have been aborted prior to his birth had genetic screening revealed him as a carrier of familial neuromuscular dystrophy, thus robbing science of one of its greatest minds. The "sex revolution" he envisages therefore, is not a positive scenario, but one in which controlled reproduction becomes the norm, and those considered genetically inferior, such as Hawking or himself, are eliminated from the population. Eugenics is a theme he returns to in Virginia State Epileptic Colony.
Herman the Bull and Tracy the sheep were early genetically modified (or 'transgenic') animals, produced by experiments in the early 1990s to manipulate milk production. Normal animal milk is not suitable for very young human children due it missing certain key proteins that a human mother's milk contains. By giving them certain human genes, scientists were able to breed animals whose milk (or the milk of his female offspring, in Herman's case) also contained the required proteins. The idea is that these animals can be industrially farmed, and their milk can be sold for children in developing countries instead of more expensive food supplements. The "African Punch and Judy show" and reference to Bombay is presumably about the exploitative relationship rich countries have with more poorer ones.
"Today it's a cow, tomorrow it's you" is a warning that genetic modification will not stop at altering animals, and will eventually be used on humans. The "me and Stephen Hawking" chorus also relates to this. Despite the flippant tone, I think what he's pointing out is that Stephen Hawking, as a carrier of a (possibly) genetically inherited disease, might have been aborted prior to his birth had genetic screening revealed him as a carrier of familial neuromuscular dystrophy, thus robbing science of one of its greatest minds. The "sex revolution" he envisages therefore, is not a positive scenario, but one in which controlled reproduction becomes the norm, and those considered genetically inferior, such as Hawking or himself, are eliminated from the population. Eugenics is a theme he returns to in Virginia State Epileptic Colony.