tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post4963297724301840945..comments2024-03-28T10:56:52.861-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Earth's "foreign policy"David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76284542180775319012008-01-20T18:26:00.000-08:002008-01-20T18:26:00.000-08:00As Bytehead pointed out, photons neatly avoid the ...As Bytehead pointed out, photons neatly avoid the whole rocket equation problem altogether. So if we're imagining doomsday scenarios, the simplest be "hey guys, here are some nifty-cool plans for you to build." Said nifty-cool plans result in a very useful, but trojaned, device. For example, the trojan might (a) relay all technological discoveries it can collect back towards the source civilization, (b) scan for beacons from other star systems, and (c) send them a message saying "hey guys, here are some nifty-cool plans for you to build." It might also be rather resistant to being shut down (or tapped into) once we discovered it. And as DB pointed out, the fast-forward technical advances that come from contact with even a benevolent society might easily outstrip our collective wisdom in using them appropriately.<BR/><BR/>Second thought: if we're listening, we can pick and choose the conversation. If we're broadcasting, the listeners get to do the picking and choosing. If most super-advanced civilizations are benign but there's one bad apple in the bunch, the former scenario is a much happier one for us than the latter.<BR/><BR/>Third thought: Not worrying about someone coming here and doing nasty stuff because interstellar travel times are longer than a civilization's lifespan seems somewhat short-sighted. Like burying nuclear waste in a place where it won't contaminate the environment for at least 1,000 years. We might not be around (modulo advances in medical science), but our descendants might well be.<BR/><BR/>Final thought: when I listen to technical projections of why interstellar travel is so difficult as to be near impossible, I'm reminded of technical projections from a century or more ago explaining that orbit would be nearly impossible to achieve--mostly because the explainers neglected to consider the possibility of multi-stage rockets. I don't know how we will overcome the obstacles, but I have great faith that we will either overcome them or render them irrelevant.False Datahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07901490109393153935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38984941419007943302007-12-20T12:37:00.000-08:002007-12-20T12:37:00.000-08:00The man lost his faith in humanity.Watch the unedi...The man lost his faith in humanity.<BR/><BR/>Watch the unedited episode 4.<BR/><BR/>You give a damn about Biggs and Wedge - sure, they aren't fully developed characters, but you certainly care if they live or die.<BR/><BR/>Even the offhand "many Bothans died.."...<BR/><BR/>You're absolutetly given the overall impression that millions of brave, ordinary people are in this fight, and it's going to take all of them to win it.<BR/><BR/>But, episode 3? The moment I knew Brin was spot on was when the young Jedi on the bridge valiantly covered the retreat of Padmai and her security officer to their escape craft, and went down facing a horde of clones.<BR/><BR/>No one said anything. No one commented. Just an 'effin backdrop for the people who "mattered".<BR/><BR/>I think something really broke inside of Lucas when his wife left him. <BR/><BR/>I've been there too...but I got over it in a decade.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-39439346022302168312007-12-20T12:32:00.000-08:002007-12-20T12:32:00.000-08:00The theory running around my Science Fiction Fanat...The theory running around my Science Fiction Fanatic Friends (SFFF's) is that the *Prophecy* was fulfilled by Anakin/DV. The novelization of SW3:RotS reveals some of Yoda's thoughts; that they had spent a thousand years preparing to re-fight the Jedi-Sith war. The Jedi were stifling the Force! They had to be eliminated to bring "balance". The second half of the prophecy (destroy the Sith) was also required; for the Sith would stifle the force in a different way... So, Anakin fufills the prophecy (though it takes him a while) of "Destroying the Sith and restoring balance to the Force", just not in that order. This makes him a helpless prisoner of events, a pawn of the "Living Force" itself. It will take generations before Luke's restored Jedi Order reaches the numbers and strength to 'stifle' the Force again; hopefully they'll recognize the signs this time (and properly analize the Delphic style prophecy).<BR/><BR/>On a related note, I picked up "Star Wars On Trial" today, a signed copy (thanks Dr. Brin!) from "Mysterious Galaxies Books". The store clerk asked me to relay a message: stop blogging and start novelizing.<BR/><BR/>HH, SM1(SW) USN (ret)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67354178028633830102007-12-20T10:36:00.000-08:002007-12-20T10:36:00.000-08:00Thanks Laurence. I'll cite that one in a soon pol...Thanks Laurence. I'll cite that one in a soon political posting.<BR/><BR/>Anonymous, can't you take credit for the "balance" riff? I guffawed out loud!<BR/><BR/>Of course, then there is Jar Jar... a proto Sith if I ever saw one.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87821628125355468622007-12-20T10:15:00.000-08:002007-12-20T10:15:00.000-08:00Have no idea if there is a topic anymore. Just bar...Have no idea if there is a topic anymore. Just barging in to share <A HREF="http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/comparative-planetology-interview-with.html" REL="nofollow">this interview with Kim Stanley Robinson</A>.<BR/><BR/>Figured that some folks here might find it interesting.ERichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00578283790067334744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6196789653792816662007-12-20T09:37:00.000-08:002007-12-20T09:37:00.000-08:00Sorry to be off-topicbut I just saw this:http://ww...Sorry to be off-topicbut I just saw this:<BR/><BR/>http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/12/15/control_sought_on_military_lawyers/<BR/><BR/>Thought you might want to see this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-65948987438027937462007-12-20T08:03:00.000-08:002007-12-20T08:03:00.000-08:00What if prophecy was Anekin's goal? Bringing Bala...What if prophecy was Anekin's goal? Bringing Balance to the Force could simply have been about reducing numbers.<BR/><BR/>N Jedi<BR/>1 Sith<BR/><BR/>Ok, first Anekin becomes a Sith.<BR/><BR/>N Jedi<BR/>2 Sith<BR/><BR/>Now slaughter Jedi until there are only 2.<BR/><BR/>2 Jedi (O and Y)<BR/>2 Sith (P and A)<BR/><BR/>Along comes the balance breaker Luke.<BR/><BR/>3 Jedi<BR/>2 Sith<BR/><BR/>Vader kills O.<BR/><BR/>2 Jedi<BR/>2 Sith<BR/><BR/>Yoda croaks.<BR/><BR/>1 Jedi<BR/>2 Sith<BR/><BR/>Gotta kill P now.<BR/><BR/>1 Jedi<BR/>1 Sith<BR/><BR/>At this point, hes generally bored with the game and decides to pass on himself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-34158169448707877702007-12-19T22:05:00.000-08:002007-12-19T22:05:00.000-08:00BTW, my little idea would also let GL keep his "ba...BTW, my little idea would also let GL keep his "balance" promise, which is presently betrayed and a total let-down.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-25072750809588932182007-12-19T22:04:00.000-08:002007-12-19T22:04:00.000-08:00My own heretical Anekin theory -- or suggestion ho...My own heretical Anekin theory -- or suggestion how to make the story at least slightly more satisfying and logical -- is simple. Anakin sees inexorable destiny rolling over them all. Because of pent-up darkside force, it is either let Palpatine rule for a while to use some of it up... or thwart him and let it REALLY explode in devastation, only a little while later.<BR/><BR/>So Anekin pretends to let Palpatine apprentice him. And the pretense has to be realistic to a guy who reads minds. So Anekin hides his real self inside the burgeoning Darth Vader, promising to find the strength to occasionally emerge to restore balance when he will:<BR/><BR/>use his influence to ensure a really stupid flaw in Deathstar designs replicates his first victory over the Trade Federation ship...<BR/><BR/>leak deathstar plans<BR/>help Leia and Luke escape from the DS<BR/><BR/>later tell the DS anti aircraft guns to shut down<BR/>tell the tie fighters to back off so "I can take care of this one"<BR/>Give the silly little twit every chance to get his shot off...<BR/><BR/>then manage to be the only DS survivor... and so on.<BR/><BR/>Obiwan has to be in on it. Else why "hide" Luke on anekin's home planet, in his very own home town. Nobody would do something so cosmically stupid unless it were a necessary part of a plan!<BR/><BR/>Finally, off the nasty oven mitt before Yoda can mess things up again... then encourage Luke to re-introduce a version of Jedihood that leaves people alone and doesn't stifle or lead to smug demigods who are stupider than a slime-mold.<BR/><BR/>And now Vader's final epiphany and redemption constitute something more than just saving you're own son on an impulse.<BR/><BR/>That corrects about 1/4 of the loony logical flaws.<BR/><BR/>And 1/4 would be great.<BR/><BR/>Know what's sad? Lucas could do this! A few "directors' cut" tweaks of EpVI ROTJ, offering some flashbacks and a little upgraded dialogue, and SW fans would go "Aha! I KNEW there had to be more to Vader-Anekin! It all makes sense! George!"<BR/><BR/>Alas.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33342550727163903482007-12-19T21:16:00.000-08:002007-12-19T21:16:00.000-08:00Really good batteries could also be used to more e...Really good batteries could also be used to more effectively store electricity generated by wind turbines and solar panels, so that a steady supply is available during slack periods.<BR/><BR/>I would love to see a more decentralized and survivable power grid.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4736696105132311552007-12-19T20:33:00.000-08:002007-12-19T20:33:00.000-08:00(Zorgon again)New nanowire battery holds 10 times ...(Zorgon again)<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html" REL="nofollow">New nanowire battery holds 10 times the charge of existing ones.</A><BR/>Someone mentioned unforeseen breakthroughs as a big wild card in the near future and I'd have to agree.<BR/> <BR/>However, the "breakthroughs" usually<BR/>mentioned seem like pipe dreams. AI, Drexler-style assembler nanotech, mind uploading, fusion power and humanoid robots have all stalled out with no sign of meaningful progress for 40 years. These fantasies belong to the same category as flying cars and alchemy...fun to imagine, but given the lack of progress in the last 2 generations, not credible in reality.<BR/><BR/>However, something as simple as a huge extension in battery life could have <I>enormous</I> repercussions in our society in every realm from electric cars to autonomous robots. Viz., Robert Heinlein's Shipstone device from <I>Friday</I>. The Stanford breakthrough is a long way from a Shipstone...still, a significant step in that direction.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-70413668393701844242007-12-19T18:17:00.000-08:002007-12-19T18:17:00.000-08:00David Brin said... Simple. After Phantom Menace...David Brin said...<BR/><BR/> <I>Simple. After Phantom Menace, I -- and some others -- tweaked about his royalty fetish and anti-democracy statements. So he "fixed it" by making her "elected."</I><BR/><BR/>Yes, I laughed out loud when Amidala's elected status was revealed in the Episode 2 and wondered if it was due to Brin's criticisms.<BR/><BR/>Also, the lightsaber fight between Yoda and Palpatine was also probably Brin's doing:<BR/><BR/><I><A HREF="http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/1999/06/15/brin_side/index2.html" REL="nofollow">Now here's a thought. How come we never see Yoda take on an enemy with a light saber? Come on master, fire it up and battle a Sith Lord! That's a battle I'd pay to see!</A><BR/></I>tvindyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09944046580562714104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-50557015698921722232007-12-19T17:26:00.000-08:002007-12-19T17:26:00.000-08:00Flesh-eating xeno bugs aren't the only possibility...Flesh-eating xeno bugs aren't the only possibility. Things could be a lot more benign, and unfortunate.<BR/><BR/>Consider the effect an alien cyanobacterium with incompatible amino acids could have. With no effective predators to keep it in check, it could turn the oceans into 'green goo' duckponds in months, and push out everything else.<BR/><BR/>(Hoyle used something similar in the sequel 'Andromeda Breakthrough'.. although it all got 'put right', from vague memory)<BR/><BR/>Inspired by our host, but a little late to be topical, I nonetheless had a little go at <A HREF="http://randomised.blogspot.com/2005/09/redemption-of-darth-vader.html" REL="nofollow">salvaging Anakin</A> for the enlightenment. <BR/><BR/>The interesting thing is how little tinkering was required with the storyline of ROTS. I think that is a telling point on its own.<BR/><BR/>As to what will be revealed in the TV series...Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20918918891343043882007-12-19T16:29:00.000-08:002007-12-19T16:29:00.000-08:00Simple. After Phantom Menace, I -- and some other...Simple. After Phantom Menace, I -- and some others -- tweaked about his royalty fetish and anti-democracy statements. So he "fixed it" by making her "elected."David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-85579596809602842112007-12-19T14:22:00.000-08:002007-12-19T14:22:00.000-08:00But, but... David, GL made Queen Amidala an electe...But, but... David, GL made Queen Amidala an <I>elected</I> politician! At <A HREF="http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/amidala/" REL="nofollow">age 14</A>! Clearly, GL loves democracy!!<BR/><BR/>Ok, I don't get it either. I have no clue what Lucas was doing, there.Xactiphynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08254344563346437079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-90526970064886359912007-12-19T12:05:00.000-08:002007-12-19T12:05:00.000-08:00Sorry, but blithely assuming perfect protection by...Sorry, but blithely assuming perfect protection by the immune system is just nuts. Yes, the immune system is powerful against viruses, which must adapt themselves very closely to a host species, in order to hijack cells and replicate. Hence, we tend to get crossover from related species. But not always...<BR/><BR/>But bacteria are something else. They can enter your body and simply start chomping away. In which case the onus is upon <B>us7</B> to adapt and attack them at THEIR weak points. And when we cannot find those weak points, the bacteria can just keep on chomping. Flesh-eating and all that. Hence, an alien bancterium that does like all our amino acids (an assumption but not unreasonable) could hit Earth life like a veritable nova.<BR/><BR/>Want some fun alternate views on reasons aliens might have, to lurk and steal our culture? http://ieti.org/articles/brin.htm<BR/><BR/>Marc, I agree that in RETROSPECT it is clear that the Jedi were a bunch of horrid, snooty, jerk-assholes, barely better than the Sith. But that’s not the issue. The issue is DID GEORGE LUCAS MEAN TO PREACH THIS, AND SAY “STAND ON YOUR OWN TWO FEET”?<BR/><BR/>Or is it just a recent excuse that this was his lesson? I go into this in HUGE detail, while slugging it out with his appointed “defense attorney” in STAR WARS ON TRIAL. And no better proof comes out of GL’s own mouth, as he praises mysterious leadership by born masters and denounces democracy.<BR/><BR/>I got no problems with Luke. Dumb but okay and not snooty at all. HIS Jedi order may open karate-like studios in every planet and encourage average folks to rule themselves. But Yoda? A viule horrid figure. Distilled evil. And if GL meant us to know this, he’d have said something when “Jedi” became the fastest-growing religion in Britain.<BR/><BR/>Yes, at least GL fights against Neocons. Yippee. While Crichton helps our modern day Sith.<BR/><BR/>Neither of them have a scintilla of gratitude toward the Enlightenment, or a modernist democracy that gave them everything.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73016362677749483052007-12-19T01:44:00.000-08:002007-12-19T01:44:00.000-08:00Brin said;"Good point! But I must answer as I did ...Brin said;<BR/><I>"<BR/>Good point! But I must answer as I did when my opponents made a similar defense of George Lucas, in STAR WARS ON TRIAL. Semi-quoth they “Yes, Yoda is horrible and the Jedi do terrible harm while undermining democracy and all that! So? That’s George’s POINT! Not to trust snobbish elites, even good ones.” <BR/><BR/>Well... they didn’t quite admit that much. But, cornered, that’s the essence of their fallback position. I was stunned. <BR/><BR/> Answer I, in both cases. “Then, why does the author never mention this point? Instead of going on and on about other things, like mystical mutant force or (in MC’s case) mankind foolishly sticking his curiosity where it never belonged? If the bad effects of secrecy were his key point, why does nobody remember the point?<BR/>"<BR/></I><BR/>>> OK, I have to disagree here. What is lost in all the really cool battles between Jedi and Syth, and they duped armies of the Empire (chasing down other duped rebels used to create false-flag events), it couldn't be MORE clear that the message of the movie is that chasing down enemies at all costs is the problem. The stuffy elite Jedi were too involved in maintaining order until it was too late. The 4 most important turning-points in the whole movie for me were; the adoption of the young Anikin into the Jedi order without helping his mother out due to their adherence to rules and not love. <BR/><BR/>The final corruption of Anakin (forget is original name at the moment), by choosing to betray principle for his selfish love of his girl and his fear of losing this relationship which leads to Anikin mass-murdering young kids. In the early part, all of the further failures of peace are created by relentless destruction of some enemy.<BR/><BR/><BR/>In episode IV, a New Hope -- the good guys actually got on the path to win when Obi Wan sacrificed his life to let his comrades escape. After that, he was the helpful spirit that allowed Luke Skywalker to take out the Death Star (which, admittedly WAS a violent act). But the FINAL defeat of the emperor and the empire was by Luke Skywalker refusing to fight, and redemption of his very, very evil father at the end.<BR/><BR/>Moral; When we let alliances overcome principle, and the fear of losing power overcome love, we get into trouble. Only in choosing NOT TO GIVE UP, and NOT TO FEAR, can we overcome true evil, and then only by embracing those that we love. The massive armies and ships were mere backdrops for the real turning point in just making Luke Skywalker a more moral man than his father. Anikin fell because he FEARED the loss of love, and Luke won because he learned to love that which he once feared.<BR/><BR/>The chasing of shadow enemies while becoming corrupted, couldn't have been more pointed at the Bush administration in episode 3 if you had emblazoned "NeoCons suck" on the side of R2D2.Fake_William_Shatnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027049743048836086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-62698273576218318332007-12-19T01:19:00.000-08:002007-12-19T01:19:00.000-08:00"michael said...Points about germs:First: The vast..."<BR/>michael said...<BR/>Points about germs:<BR/><BR/>First: The vast majority of germs that can survive in a given location do not proliferate to the detriment of the environment provided by the location. This applies equally well to the human body.<BR/><BR/>Second: The exceptions are virtually universally the recent ones - virulence is primarily selected against, but only when immunity has started to crop up, and only when the germs are close to a saturation point; all of this means that a germ that jumps to a new species is liable to be highly virulent, since whatever factors might control its growth in its native habitat most likely do not apply, and as it won't be competing with other versions of itself, virulence will increase at first, before it starts to go down.<BR/>"<BR/>>> Two very good points. But you missed an important THIRD type of infection; where there is a host and a human vector as a transmission agent. In the case of Malaria, mosquitoes are really the host, and humans and other animals are just a convenient vector from one mosquito to the next. That is why, despite millions of deaths over many years, Malaria is not subsiding into a symbiotic relationship as is often the case.<BR/><BR/>And history proves a few dooms-day scenarios. When cyanobacteria proliferated in the early earth oceans, it was one of the first organisms to release oxygen as a waste product. Not only was this a toxic waste -- destroying other creatures kept increasing the habitat for the organism. Something more than 95% of the worlds life and species were wiped out, and the atmosphere permanently changed. The early ammonia and methane atmosphere was replaced by a lot of oxygen, which served to reduce the blanketing affect of much of the greenhouse gases in the air.<BR/><BR/>The earth plunged to something approaching -40 below around much of the globe. Perhaps we were saved only by pockets of life around volcanic up-wellings, and perhaps the freezing temperatures wiped out most of the cyano-bacteria long enough for other life to get a foothold and release enough carbon dioxide to warm the air. Suffice to say, in this case, there was nothing to stop the success of a lifeform until it was too late.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps some die-off of dinosaurs was caused by the large super-continent of the time (was that Pangea?), and the success of the Stegosaurus. One ubiquitous host and one large territory could create a plague environment.<BR/><BR/>>> The push in general for life to leave a planet has to be great and a result of normal evolving environments. Planets that are TOO stable, probably don't create enough challenge to creatures therein. It's kind of like many experiences of peaceful tribes that lived in Australia when the aggressive Europeans "moved in." They just weren't ready.<BR/><BR/>TOO many large impacts and catastrophes can wipe out life. <BR/><BR/>It's probably in our best interest to colonize other planets, because a civilization destroying calamity approaches 1 over time in any environment dynamic enough to create life. It's a good thing we've had a steady diet of "big events", otherwise we would be caught flat-footed by the rare calamity. It's this response to disaster that probably provides good hope for the resilience of life on this planet when threatened by Human activity.Fake_William_Shatnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027049743048836086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76778100872568177792007-12-19T01:01:00.000-08:002007-12-19T01:01:00.000-08:00I was listening to a favorite Podcast today; This ...I was listening to a favorite Podcast today; This Week In Tech (TWIT) with Leo Laporte. They were joking a bit about the man who was taking it upon himself to start actively trying to send messages to the stars (thanks, jerk, let EVERYONE know we can't coordinate an effort).<BR/><BR/>I thought they had a brilliant notion for a comic short story; what if we contacted aliens, and, due to the vast distances and delays, all the points made would be of no use, and it would descend into slow-motion instant messaging blog. With aliens just passing along the best joke they'd heard from ten other alien races -- and of course, they'd be two centuries old by then.<BR/><BR/>What if aliens were just really, really boring; "We like blue -- do you have that where you are at?" Billions of dollars and thousands of man-hours spent hovering over every bleep and pop, to decipher the most banal of data. What would we reply after the requisite world excitement died down and a committee of well-vetted people responded? "Yes, blue is nice." Then, of course, there would be all the contrarians, assorted cultists, and just plain anti-blue message groups who would also try and push out their messages; "What do you mean?" "Is blue God?" "We prefer Yellow." I'm sure a few people would actually get blown up over that last one.<BR/><BR/>I could imagine a trip of one-way volunteers who subject themselves to a frozen trip and a goodbye to everything they knew. Just to end up on a world about as provincial and boring as could be imagined. "Nice weather today.... yup." The crew of well-trained scientists would devolve into "lord of the flies" as they experimented with every drug on the planet trying to make the boredom go away.Fake_William_Shatnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027049743048836086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61127900590550463762007-12-19T00:45:00.000-08:002007-12-19T00:45:00.000-08:00"david brin said...Zorgon, the METI imbroglio illu..."<BR/>david brin said...<BR/>Zorgon, the METI imbroglio illustrates many of the shortsighted and infantile traits that have brought us to the brink re climate change, peak oil, proliferation, etc. Our inherent human proclivities toward self-righteous certainty, for example. The tendency to cluster in small, self-referential and reassuring groups of like-minded people, while avoiding the wide open tussle of opposing viewpoints that might catch our errors... or allow us to improve our already-marvelous plans.<BR/>"<BR/>>> I'd have to agree somewhat -- but I think this is just the problems with our social "human" nature and groups too large to relate to. I've always been rebelling against the silliness of my peers -- but that's either a factor of being in the 1% high end of the intelligence curve (well, intelligence as it's measured, I'm not a big fan of most measures of IQ because they only measure skills that SOME people think are important -- I just learned some efficient tricks to make my learning disabilities work for me), or just a factor that for the sake of survival of any species, SOMEONE has to take the contrarion role and be a pain in everyone's ass.<BR/><BR/>More simply put; "people just want to be accepted and liked, and to hell with what people are actually thinking." Men will wear flowered shirts if it will consistently get them laid. They would wear bells, or pumpkins on their heads for status.<BR/><BR/>The important trend I see is the water cooler. The philosophy that gets one accepted by the executive, tends to be spoken more loudly in mixed company. The concepts that you might already believe, or have a comfort with, will be spoken amongst smaller groups of people who think like you. It's less effort to find like-minded people than to change yourself, and you make more friends if you echo what someone else believes. At least down here in Georgia, that is. I think in New York, where I grew up, people don't trust you if you are TOO agreeable.<BR/><BR/>I learned a few years ago, that girls don't particularly care if you are telling them the truth or not -- they just want to know if you think that they are important enough to make up an elaborate lie. This finally explained how so often, girls were talking about morals, and church, and then pretending to get drunk and have their brains screwed out in college. I would always answer such tests with an honest answer, and would NOT get the great sex that someone who I KNEW was lying would get.<BR/><BR/>It had nothing to do with how I looked. I was just stupidly honest and looking for some kind of truth. I didn't realize that society, in general, does not care at all for the truth, or would recognize it if a burning chunk of it fell on them from the sky. When people say; "truth" they mean; do you care enough to adopt this consensus reality we have agreed upon? Of course, I wasn't around to vote on whatever this reality thing was supposed to be. Someone just handed me "Reagonomics" and said; "Here, this is what everyone knows to be true." Now they call it "Fair Tax." OK, yeah, I suppose I'll just have to hire a small army of large-breasted women to go around and say; "We need to go back to tariffs, don't you think?"Fake_William_Shatnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027049743048836086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30256601024742220632007-12-19T00:31:00.000-08:002007-12-19T00:31:00.000-08:00Crichton is a good writer, but about as sci-fi as ...Crichton is a good writer, but about as sci-fi as magic lightning making Frankenstein, and his novels are all short stories -- man has hubris, messes with God's domain, lesson learned -- the end. <BR/><BR/>I loved Sphere however, but it was a psychological thriller, set with blinking lights. I totally disagree that GOOD science fiction can't involve discussions of science and thoughtful debate and conflict resolution. When I was growing up, the scientists were heros. It was only later that ANYONE trying to figure something out -- the smart guy, was always portrayed as being tempted with the power of the gods and was un-done by the simple yet heroic man with a clenched jaw and a bigger gun. Joe Sixpack to the rescue.<BR/><BR/>These Westerns like Star Wars recast as sci-fi are NOT he fair of people who like to wonder. I enjoyed the hell out of star wars, but I was never enjoying it as science fiction -- get real.<BR/><BR/>2001, a space Odyssey, was almost a science fiction movie. It didn't really deal<BR/><BR/>"<BR/>Michael said...<BR/>Marc: Without numbers explaining what you mean by "the black hole is an accelerated proton, and the Quasar is an electron", I'm going to have to call nonsense.<BR/>"<BR/>>> Um, if I could give you the math, I'd be a world-famous Physicist, since I can't I'm at least a dreamer or a science fiction writer. I just said; "trust me." It's a joke. However, if I'm going to get into "babble" then let me just explain the simple physics that should make a better case.<BR/><BR/>Stars seem to have a maximum size -- too much matter and it is blown off, or it collapses into a black hole. I think there is also a maximum amount of matter that can exist in a galaxy, because gravity essentially IS acceleration. Though a heavier gravity field can allow for MORE acceleration (mass x speed) through relativistic drag, at some point, just a particle sitting in such a mass will get closer and closer to relativistic boundaries. My own "theory" of gravity is that it can be expressed as a flow through the aether of the collapsing soliton that we seem to think are fundamental particles. So there is actually an outward pressure on matter, but as an opposite to the photon in a sense.<BR/><BR/>Just as a planet of a certain size has an escape velocity, so too does the Universe. It's higher when there is a depressed gravity well. If a very large star is collapsing and then exploding, at some point a lot of particles are going to be pushed towards that "escape velocity." They never achieve relativistic speed in this universe, but with gravity and speed they punch through the fabric of it and "stay up high" -- a black hole is pretty much going to stay outside the universe, like a satellite orbiting a planet -- it just keeps falling in an arc around the planet--in this case it's sort of a "pocket universe" and the orbiting is internal, but space/time is only created INSIDE the universe -- I could explain all of this, but it takes a LOT of time, it's one thing to imagine how it all connects, but another to explain it. <BR/><BR/>Anyway, Electrons and protons expand when they are accelerated to relativistic speeds. In my particular theory, everything is really just sort of a vortex -- there are no particles. But due to how things appear to be quantum (or exchanged in discrete packets) - that really comes about because of geometry and harmonics. The standing wave can ONLY interact at discrete distances around an atom, so the movement of the electron shell to give off a photon is only at specific intervals and amounts of energy -- BECAUSE only the peaks can be detected or interacted with. Both viewer and view-ee are standing waves on a medium -- an aether if you will. <BR/><BR/>following to your comment;<BR/>"<BR/>Also, radio waves ARE photons. Photons are simply the 'particle' that carries electromagnetic radiation. When at the energy level of radio, they behave primarily in a wavelike fashion, but they're still fundamentally the same photons you get at the visible range.<BR/>"<BR/>>> Sure. That's my point. If the photon WERE a particle -- how do radio waves act just like ripples on a pond? It's just a difference of energy levels that somehow makes the photon interact at discrete points -- it appears like a particle, because the ripple that propagates light is only resolved on other matter or fields at discrete points --- yet, in the basic double-slit tests, a single photon can interfere with itself JUST like it does when there are two photons. The photon doesn't KNOW that there is another slit (which is the total basis for much new age gobble-de-gook, the wave that carries it travels through both slits and only ONE slit can pass the energy. The whole Shroedenger's cat thing, the observer affecting the observed, is because we are trying to SEE particles by throwing sledge hammers at them. We can ONLY see the results of the wave, not the medium it is on. We are standing up stream in a current, and dazzled by the rapids, because only there do we notice the resistance of the rock against the moving water. <BR/><BR/>I'm sorry if I have to gloss over a huge amount of physics. Hey, I'm just a computer graphics guy for a living. <BR/><BR/>Anyway, I've come up with a lot of testable hypothesis, and made a few predictions. So far, many of the discoveries in physics are going my way. I decided when I was 14 that string theory would fall apart. Heisenberg's Uncertainty principle is not a rule of the universe but a problem with 5 blind men describing an elephant -- or the metaphor of only being able to see the rapids in a stream. We are all standing in that same stream -- we are not looking at single photons or particles. Atom smashers will find that they can find infinitely smaller particles. There is something like a quark, but it's really just three loops of space time, chasing each other in both the proton and electron. The electron is positive in energy because it is slightly in a future energy state, the proton is in the past. The electron is smaller and less "heavy" because it ahead of it's time debt. Kind of like a stone rolling down a hill ahead of another stone is "ahead" -- it has spent more of it's potential energy. To make it a little more strange, the loops that make up the electron are PROBABLY, the potential future of the loops making up the Proton. When the probability is certain, due to the fixing of the boundary layer of the space/time loops in a gravity well -- you get a lot of energy, neutrinos and a Neutron.<BR/><BR/>I'll admit all this is a guess. But to me at least, it's solved the whole problem of "something from nothing," how everything actually is, and how you get a big bang and then an resonating inversion and the same thing over again.<BR/><BR/>I'll predict something that is just around the corner; Dark Matter will be proven to be a phenomenon of "parallel" Universes -- a bleed through of gravity from the AVERAGE position of other masses. But it's a bit more "different" than that, because I'm not relying on different dimensions for this -- just that it's better to visualize all these Universes as like bubbles in suds in a tub. The "overlap" of gravity is that there is no distance outside the bubbles, and since distance is only INSIDE each of these disparate bubbles, they have coincident points of dimensional space. But it doesn't really matter -- it's just that you don't have to have all these things moving in and out of each other, all the properties of this Universe can be understood with our normal understanding of 4 dimensions. Every time someone wants to explain some weird phenomenon, they add another dimension. It's all just a model anyway to understand things.<BR/><BR/>>> People can try and understand what I'm saying or just move on. I could take a while and explain how gravity can be influenced by light and vise-versa, but someone else would need to come up with the math. I just "see" how things work, and then try to describe it. Not having the ability to complete these things -- I've grown accustomed to, I have a steamer trunk full of old sketches of things other people have since invented like CD-Roms, endoscopic surgery, the idea of noise-canceling by equal and opposite sound, fiber-optic light pipes for homes, etc. But it's a HUGE leap from just having an idea like using interferometers to story thousands of more data points per "dimple" on a CD and having the material science background to make it happen.<BR/><BR/>I just don't have many things that were idiotic guesses. Things like this either create a mad fool, or someone who makes great stories. Most any great invention was preceded by a fantasy put to ink by a writer. In my case, I have a lot of ideas that I haven't heard from anyone else -- so at least my fantasy would be original.Fake_William_Shatnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027049743048836086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35335419505063893952007-12-19T00:10:00.000-08:002007-12-19T00:10:00.000-08:00I am inclined to think that even a sea creature wo...I am inclined to think that even a sea creature would have to be able to manipulate it's environment to become intelligent and as long as they could do that they would at some point (even if much slower than humans) would be able to build some sort of probe that could leave the sea - and later one that could leave the planet.<BR/><BR/>If they contacted other life forms I would expect them to see that as a survival necessity – since any life form should have experience of the need to be able to at least make a plausible defense and retaliation (amongst other things) even if one hopes never to use it. Only the belief that no one else exists would seem to prevent that requirement.<BR/><BR/>I don't think there is a way around the fact that intelligent life is either expanding somewhat aggressively (at least ensuring no threat within it's 'sphere' of influence) or just does not exist at a very high level - at least not one we could not bully once we got there.Geniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11624496692217466430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83119924509007959092007-12-18T23:31:00.000-08:002007-12-18T23:31:00.000-08:00Points about germs:First: The vast majority of ger...Points about germs:<BR/><BR/>First: The vast majority of germs that can survive in a given location do not proliferate to the detriment of the environment provided by the location. This applies equally well to the human body.<BR/><BR/>Second: The exceptions are virtually universally the recent ones - virulence is primarily selected against, but only when immunity has started to crop up, and only when the germs are close to a saturation point; all of this means that a germ that jumps to a new species is liable to be highly virulent, since whatever factors might control its growth in its native habitat most likely do not apply, and as it won't be competing with other versions of itself, virulence will increase at first, before it starts to go down.<BR/><BR/><BR/>All that said, that still requires said bugs to be ABLE to make the hop - which means if any alien bugs CAN infect humans, the odds are that it would be primarily incidental. (IE, they might steal some of an infected individual's nutrition, but are unlikely to actually infect cells or the like.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Also, I strongly question the feasibility of memetic weaponry, gray goo scenarios, mind-control nanotech, and many other "dangers of listening" scenarios.<BR/><BR/>That said, plans for a m->e conversion device are far more feasible than most of the rest.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11507725932358099333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-65020077183122924092007-12-18T21:52:00.000-08:002007-12-18T21:52:00.000-08:00DB: "A fundamental point. Nearly all "first contac...DB: "A fundamental point. Nearly all "first contacts" between human species (e.g. when panama linked S and N America) resulted in countless losers and extinctions."<BR/><BR/>Alien species will be too dissimilar biologically to interact with our planet's biota UNLESS they are engineered to do so. That would presuppose aggressive intent, not some accidental result of contact.Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-65781359015627659352007-12-18T20:58:00.000-08:002007-12-18T20:58:00.000-08:00Er, Feline Leukemia doesn't hurt other cats. It's...Er, Feline Leukemia doesn't hurt other cats. It's non-communicable.<BR/><BR/>As for other species, you're part right. it takes a while for their bugs to jump on to us, depending on degree of interaction and similarity of body chemistry conditions. Even so, most of the nastier bugs we know came from animals. Smallpox came from horses. Syphilis came from sheep (which is nasty).<BR/><BR/>Fortunately, BEMs probably have exceptionally different body chemistries, so I would still say the chance of their infection is low.sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.com