I'm trying to recall where I read an SF plot. The gimmick was that humans have a soul, or animating spirit, enter them at birth and exit at death. But since there were only a finite number of souls and they recycled after each use, Earth's human population had reached the point where there weren't enough of them to go around and many children were being born in a vegetative state: nothing physically wrong with them but unable to interact with the world. (Robert J. Sawyer, maybe?) Can't remember what the "solution" was; I don't think it was genocide or universal contraception.
Seems tempting to suggest a comparable situation, in which humans at birth grab onto a kindred soul from those surrounding them. But with souls now in short supply, bodies have to grab one from nearby before someone beats them to it, even if it isn't a good fit. As a consequence, the world sees a lot more TG people, and also an increase in extreme autism cases.
Eric
I've read that too
A semi-classic by a sort of hard science type writer. ??? It's pretty short. Larry Niven? Harry Turtledove?
{SPOILER}
The solution was suicide by older people in order to provide recycled souls.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
John Brunner, The Vitanuls
No wonder none of us could remember the title! Sheesh!
At least, this is a good candidate for the one we are thinking about. See this page: https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthatbook/comments/3fezq4/a_sci...
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Thanks, Erin!
I have the anthology they mentioned around here somewhere -- though that doesn't mean it'll be easy for me to find it.
But that'd explain why I'm vague on the story, assuming it's among the SF paperbacks I packed up when I moved here 32 years ago and then never found shelf space for.
Eric
It could be ...
One of Isaac Asimov's. It certainly rings a bell, albeit from many years ago. If it's the story I'm thinking of, there wasn't a resolution. The human race was just going to have to adapt to this new state of affairs.
Oldfashioned.