From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Mon Mar 19 2001 - 01:33:16 MST
"Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@aeiveos.com> writes:
> On 19 Mar 2001, Anders Sandberg wrote:
>
> > Actually, it is not obvious that you can convince
> > bone cells that they are being stressed without real mechanical
> > stress.
>
> Only because the required experiment hasn't been done yet. You
> have to do a differential gene expression study on a set of
> astronauts on the ground and then again after they have been
> in space for 3 months (minimizing their exercise). Perhaps
> morally questionable but you could request volunteers.
You could always try it with test animals, having one group with no
special exercise and one that are induced to workout in various
ways. Then you can see what genes get expressed.
> > In this scenario the reason for going into space at all is simply that
> > a form of runaway bio-goo slowly is overrunning the biosphere,
>
> Oh, nice, give the Greens more ammunition why don't you.
> Well at least the game should be popular in Germany.
Actually, it is a green nightmare - all of nature has turned out to be
artificial. It seems it was all some kind of biotech left by an alien
supercivilisation, and now some of the aliens are making a
comeback. The only thing saving people is high powered genetic
engineering, nanotech and geoengineering. Living in harmony with
nature means you (and your standard ecology) is going to be
assimilated ;-)
> > and the people behind the space effort calculate that the value of owning a
> > sizeable fraction of all human living space would outweigh the risk of a
> > project failure.
>
> I'd like to be at the meeting where you get that many optimists (with
> the necessary financial throw weight) in a room.
It is the normal distribution thing - with a large population, you are
bound to find some extreme cases. Of course, the interesting thing to
see is if they manage to prove themselves sane and not just another
Iridium.
> > I agree that this is a somewhat weak case, but then again, it is a
> > game. I try to make the science and economy as hard as suits the
> > story, but I do fudge a little bit to make (more) interesting things
> > possible.
>
> Remind me at some future point when I've relocated elsewhere to
> invite you to visit for a few days. We'll make fudge together
> so you can see how *sticky* it is.
Sounds fun!
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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