From: Robert Owen (rowen@technologist.com)
Date: Sun Jan 02 2000 - 23:45:55 MST
Eliezer S Yudkowsky wrote:
> It may mean that the human race is indeed getting ready to vanish to
> wherever inscrutable ancient races go, leaving behind only such strange
> remnants as a giant clock that goes cuckoo once every 10,000 years.
That's the good news; the bad news is that they don't go anywhere but
remain latent in the gene pool. That is, if it looks like a Neaderthal or an
Etruscan, it probably is.
While our monolithic chronometer has a plate-tectonic metabolism, it
is not explained what chemical power source can endure such extended
periods of relative inactivity. A mere tick or bong cannot extend the
shelf-life to 10,000 years; on the other hand, if it turns out to be what
you rather archly dismiss, such self-regenerating sources are no doubt
widely distributed even as we speak.
=======================
Robert M. Owen
Director
The Orion Institute
57 W. Morgan Street
Brevard, NC 28712-3659 USA
=======================
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:26:04 MST