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  1. - Top - End - #1501
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: Grrl Power IV: Constantly Expanded Universe

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    What on earth does "starting off with ability to understand and manipulate RNA" even mean
    Cephalopods actually posses the ability to change RNA of their neurons possibly other cells, on the fly. Unlike any other animal on earth. It could be temperature driven, but it also could be memory driven. So far it's unknown.

    I'm trying to demonstrate how hard it is to even anticipate where such hypothetical creature could start off. For it, electricity would probably come before fire. Or it could discover CRISPR before rockets. This ties to my next point.

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    And how are they getting to graphene while skipping 100+ years of polymers?
    Skipping? You seem to think that tech is a hierarchy like a tree. Tech is honestly much more like a graph, where every hypothetical race starts at different corners, and moves towards higher energies.

    Also graphene isn't too hard to create. Just take a piece of charcoal and an adhesive strip...

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    They need to launch rockets to get the space elevator into place.
    Rockets are A way. A way we invented. They aren't necessarily the only way. Nothing says you can't grow your space elevator. Or just launch the elevator with a strong enough railgun.

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    No. The posts are exactly where they've always been.

    It's just that under every one of your assumptions there's a set of complications that need to be addressed before that assumption could be potentially be true -- you're mistaking someone asking those questions for "moving the goalposts".
    Yes, and that professor had a subquestion for every answer given. So do you.

    In summary, sure there are obstacles, but nothing insourmountable. Worst case scenario they just reinvent rockets and enjoy low gravity environment. Which is similar to their natural habitat.
    Last edited by -D-; 2019-08-05 at 04:45 PM.

  2. - Top - End - #1502
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Max_Killjoy's Avatar

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    Default Re: Grrl Power IV: Constantly Expanded Universe

    Quote Originally Posted by -D- View Post
    Yes, and that professor had a subquestion for every answer given. So do you.
    Because that's how science and technology actually develop. The questions we're asking are blatantly obvious, and obviously haven't been asked.

    The multiple iterations of Connections really should be a mandatory part of science education.


    Quote Originally Posted by -D- View Post
    Cephalopods actually posses the ability to change RNA of their neurons, on the fly. Unlike any other animal on earth. It could be temperature driven, but it also could be memory driven. So far it's unknown.
    Which doesn't really help them understand it or use it for anything.


    Quote Originally Posted by -D- View Post
    Rockets are A way. A way we invented. They aren't necessarily the only way. Nothing says you can't grow your space elevator. Or evolve an spacefaring creature to take you there. Or just launch the elevator with a strong enough railgun.
    Grow... a space elevator... and it's going to grow itself into space... right.

    I suggest you do some research on the actual challenges of building a space elevator, and where the points of failure are, and then ask yourself again if these are workable ideas.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

    Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.

    The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.

    The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.

  3. - Top - End - #1503
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    DataNinja's Avatar

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    Default Re: Grrl Power IV: Constantly Expanded Universe

    Since we've gone on for a bit longer than we should, I've made a new thread with the only name I've really seen in the last few pages. If there's disagreement on the title, it can be changed. But just to get it up.

    Arguments can be continued there.

  4. - Top - End - #1504
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: Grrl Power IV: Constantly Expanded Universe

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    Because that's how science and technology actually develop. The questions we're asking are blatantly obvious, and obviously haven't been asked.
    Please don't lecture me on how Science develops. I am aware. Sure each discovery builds on another. But also each discovery also can be impacted by random chance, not to mention lost, and rediscovered. Which means it isn't just a hierarchy.

    Not to mention Cephalopods science would have different starting point, perspectives, senses, etc. So you get a completely unique "tech tree".


    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    Grow... a space elevator... and it's going to grow itself into space... right.
    It was an outlandish idea, but this is GRRLPOWER. Everything is magic.

    For real, but a Hypothetical Real Earth Cephalopod could have discovered a material stong enough to fit the bill. And a way to make something synthesize it. And a way to grow a structure out of it, that they can expand upon.

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