Messages

46

Aneristic Illusions / Re: Pelosi vs AOC feud

« on: July 12, 2019, 01:40:25 pm »

That Pelosi has the party base, whereas they do not and so with the very possible exception of AoC (who can use her national profile and twitter presence as a kind of soft power counter) they're all screwed.

But no surprises there. Pelosi is a hippie-puncher by nature and inclination.

Pelosi needs to go as much as McConnell.

47

Techmology and Scientism / Re: If aliens call, what should we do? Scientists want your opinion.

« on: July 12, 2019, 01:37:48 pm »

We can't really survive somewhere that we're not adapted to live in.

Actually, I already survive somewhere that humans are not biologically adapted to.  When I go outside during winter, I could die.  But I overcome this with technology.  When the temperature drops, I wear a coat.

Why is wearing protective gear (space suits, encounter suits, whatever) a showstopper for alien visitors?  For that matter, why couldn't they alter their biology to match the environment?  We are much closer to modifying humans than to visiting the stars (some Chinese researchers are already trying to create HIV-resistant babies.)  Being able to modify one's biology significantly may even be a prerequisite to surviving interstellar travel.

There is also the possibility that the alien visitors are so alien, that our microbes wouldn't affect them at all.  If they were all robots, for example.

...yeah.  Actually, forget everything I just said, and let's go with that.  The aliens are all robots.

Aliens are all robots is the most feasible.

And yeah, I'm well aware of the Chinese CRISPR babies. Thing is that comes with a lot of ethical problems for a reason. Not the least of which being that straight Mendelian genetics is just scratching the surface and altering one gene could disrupt multiple gene networks. I'm not a computer programmer, but I'm sure a computer programmer can easily spot an analogy here. It of course depends on exactly what's being done in genetic modification, but if you're so heavily modifying a genome to be able to handle alien worlds, those aliens might be aliens to the aliens that point

Please see Greg Egan’s Diaspora. There is a character who does something along these lines just to communicate. It’s fiction, but Egan is about as hard as science fiction can get.

Does what to communicate, robots or gene editing?

48

Apple Talk / Re: Open Bar: Drinks are on the Supreme Court

« on: July 12, 2019, 01:35:45 pm »

I'll survive. I'm just poor and cheap, lmao

That reminds me. I'm probably going to have to shell out quite a bit for admissions applications to PhD programs this fall

49

Apple Talk / Re: Open Bar: Drinks are on the Supreme Court

« on: July 11, 2019, 09:15:01 pm »

I really, really, REALLY do not want to take the qualifying tests to teach English but ☹️ social science teachers are about a quarter of a dozen and there's always a need for English. Ugh. That's another $300.

 

50

Techmology and Scientism / Re: If aliens call, what should we do? Scientists want your opinion.

« on: July 11, 2019, 09:13:01 pm »

We can't really survive somewhere that we're not adapted to live in.

Actually, I already survive somewhere that humans are not biologically adapted to.  When I go outside during winter, I could die.  But I overcome this with technology.  When the temperature drops, I wear a coat.

Why is wearing protective gear (space suits, encounter suits, whatever) a showstopper for alien visitors?  For that matter, why couldn't they alter their biology to match the environment?  We are much closer to modifying humans than to visiting the stars (some Chinese researchers are already trying to create HIV-resistant babies.)  Being able to modify one's biology significantly may even be a prerequisite to surviving interstellar travel.

There is also the possibility that the alien visitors are so alien, that our microbes wouldn't affect them at all.  If they were all robots, for example.

...yeah.  Actually, forget everything I just said, and let's go with that.  The aliens are all robots.

Aliens are all robots is the most feasible.

And yeah, I'm well aware of the Chinese CRISPR babies. Thing is that comes with a lot of ethical problems for a reason. Not the least of which being that straight Mendelian genetics is just scratching the surface and altering one gene could disrupt multiple gene networks. I'm not a computer programmer, but I'm sure a computer programmer can easily spot an analogy here. It of course depends on exactly what's being done in genetic modification, but if you're so heavily modifying a genome to be able to handle alien worlds, those aliens might be aliens to the aliens that point

51

Techmology and Scientism / Re: If aliens call, what should we do? Scientists want your opinion.

« on: July 10, 2019, 04:00:33 pm »

Cain brings up good points about political consequences.

But re: Moon germs, and the like. We have to wear spacesuits whenever we go somewhere not Earthlike. Hell we have to basically wear the equivalent of spacesuits if we go to certain parts of our planet. We can't really survive somewhere that we're not adapted to live in. Neither can microbes. Microbes have limitations too.

We can't even culture most of the microbial species on Earth, for a variety of reasons, but a nontrivial part of that is that some species only thrive in multispecies consortia. We ourselves get pretty sickly if our microbiomes are out of whack. So among the challenges that an alien invader is going to face: bacteria that they're not evolved to handle, assuming that their environmental parameters match up with any bacteria from Earth, (or if their internal conditions are suitable) and that their offspring are probably not going to have the microbiomes they're supposed to

52

Techmology and Scientism / Re: If aliens call, what should we do? Scientists want your opinion.

« on: July 10, 2019, 07:22:11 am »

Microbiology, specifically, but with a side of evolution

53

Techmology and Scientism / Re: If aliens call, what should we do? Scientists want your opinion.

« on: July 10, 2019, 07:11:28 am »

Again: aliens who come here are probably committing suicide by horrible, tortuous means. What's the harm in a phone call?

I always thought the conclusion of "War of the Worlds" was nonsense.  How the hell could the aliens be advanced enough to build interplanetary spaceships and beam weaponry, but be ignorant of pathogens?

We barely had the technology to make it to the moon, but we still knew enough to be worried about the unknown, and put the first astronauts in quarantine when they got back.

Astronauts that went to the Moon didn't expect life there and they went in space suits because they were temporarily in an environment that they didn't evolve in.

I also know a thing or two about biology.

54

Techmology and Scientism / Re: If aliens call, what should we do? Scientists want your opinion.

« on: July 10, 2019, 03:37:32 am »

Nevertheless, if an alien civilization contacts us, why not give it a go?

Because I hate aliens. 

This at least it's a proper answer

55

Techmology and Scientism / Re: If aliens call, what should we do? Scientists want your opinion.

« on: July 10, 2019, 03:36:52 am »

Nevertheless, if an alien civilization contacts us, why not give it a go?

Seriously, have you not seen any of those movies?!

Yes, and they're almost all universally shite on basic science. You going to believe some capitalist dog from Los Angeles who doesn't understand basic science selling you stupid ideas and probably is just fucking rebooting something from 40 years ago to void actually being creative? Movies are fun to watch, but fuck them for actual real life applications.

Again: aliens who come here are probably committing suicide by horrible, tortuous means. What's the harm in a phone call?

56

Apple Talk / Re: Open Bar: Drinks are on the Supreme Court

« on: July 10, 2019, 03:31:37 am »

So just out of curiosity since I've been out of the loop for awhile, who has left and who's here under new names? I see RWHN is back under a new name

Yes, for now anyway

Cheers, like

57

Apple Talk / Re: Open Bar: Drinks are on the Supreme Court

« on: July 10, 2019, 03:30:12 am »

So just out of curiosity since I've been out of the loop for awhile, who has left and who's here under new names? I see RWHN is back under a new name

The Johnny, the artist formerly known as Joh'Nyx, a.k.a. third world hyena.

But ok seriously, pretty much everyones gone, you dont recognize anyone not because they changed their name, its just that its actually new people.

EDIT:

Im not supposed to tell you, but Cramulus and Cain actually swapped usernames and identities - you see, thats why "Cramulus" (in reality now Cain) hasnt posted lately, its because hes in a deep infiltration mission at the Gurdujeff Institute.

And Im actually Kai, I underwent some years of deep-hypnosis and now im reformed under a new monicker, living a new life.

I kinda figured (the true parts, that is), just wanted to make sure

58

Apple Talk / Re: Open Bar: Drinks are on the Supreme Court

« on: July 10, 2019, 03:28:40 am »

Also, hiya Twid.

HOOOOOOOPS!

59

Apple Talk / Re: Open Bar: Drinks are on the Supreme Court

« on: July 10, 2019, 03:28:16 am »

So just out of curiosity since I've been out of the loop for awhile, who has left and who's here under new names? I see RWHN is back under a new name

IT'S A NARK
HE WANTS TO KNOW OUR NAMES
EVERYBODY ACT CASUAL
 

Spoken like someone who hasn't been here long

60

Apple Talk / Re: Open Bar: Drinks are on the Supreme Court

« on: July 09, 2019, 05:09:02 am »

So just out of curiosity since I've been out of the loop for awhile, who has left and who's here under new names? I see RWHN is back under a new name