Re: from 6 billion to 500 million: how?

From: Michael Lorrey (mike@datamann.com)
Date: Tue Feb 06 2001 - 11:21:25 MST


Chuck Kuecker wrote:
>
> At 10:32 PM 2/5/01 -0800, you wrote:
> >John Marlow wrote:
> >
> > > My point?... It's expensive. Deal with it. (And not by launching
> > > dismembered astronauts to save weight.)
> >
> >How about humans genetically modified to 10 kg? Humans
> >have genetically modified poodles and chihuahuas (~4kg) from
> >wolves (~50 kg). Similarly domestic cats from the wild variety.
> >No, forget it, unethical. Damn. Those born tiny would not be
> >volunteers. We can use only volunteers.
>
> Ever compare the intelligence of a house cat to a lion? Or a chihuahua to a
> Great Dane?

I've known parrots that were far smarter than dogs or cats (and
lighter).

>
> The resulting creature would be mostly brain, not much use for colonization
> or exploration unless backed by mucho hardware, which I believe would
> outweigh the traveler by quite a bit.

Thing is you don't need to ship all that equipment: you need a computer
CAD/CAM prototyping system to construct parts out of refined materials
in situ.

Mike



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