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Where did all the starships go?

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Re: Where did all the starships go?

#361

Post by computerthings »

WalterBright wrote: post #135
krapp wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why try to cross an ocean when everything we could want is across the river? That "river" is still vast and nothing we want is on the other side. >1. The idea that Terran life is toxic and must not be allowed on other planets in the solar system. It's less the idea that Terran life is toxic and more that we're still hoping to find some forms of primitive life elsewhere in the solar system, and don't want those effor…

> nothing we want is on the other side Wow. > You decided the rest of the solar system is dead, not the scientific community. The odds are heavily stacked against other life existing, and get worse with every probe. Of course, nobody can prove there is no other life. And it's not very credible that Terran life will out-compete locally evolved life. And the idea that preserving some slime mold on Pluto justifies us co…

[dead]

Re: Where did all the starships go?

#362

Post by tialaramex »

stavros wrote: post #352
tialaramex wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I think at most very literal titles would be a stylistic phase. Even "The Martian" is more a play on words than just a literal title for what it's about. Taking favourite novels which are within arm's reach: Sure "Rainbows End" is Science Fiction which doesn't involve space travel etc. but "Incandescence" is also SF but that's deeply about space travel. Banks' "Whit" and "Surface Detail" are both sat here. One…

Wait, what's the play on words in The Martian ?

Generally in SF genre fiction "Martian" means a space alien, a being native to the planet Mars e.g. the antagonists in "War of the Worlds" are Martians.

However the word can also mean, and does in the case of the novel, a person who merely lives on the planet Mars, as Mark Wayney does.

Re: Where did all the starships go?

#363

Post by stavros »

tialaramex wrote: post #362
stavros wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, what's the play on words in The Martian ?

Generally in SF genre fiction "Martian" means a space alien, a being native to the planet Mars e.g. the antagonists in "War of the Worlds" are Martians. However the word can also mean, and does in the case of the novel, a person who merely lives on the planet Mars, as Mark Wayney does.

Hm, right. I somehow never really saw those two as different, hm.

Re: Where did all the starships go?

#364

Post by giorgioz »

RustyRussell wrote: post #139
giorgioz wrote: post #73

Some new sci-fi books among the stars: We are Bob Red rising Murderbot

You're writing this from a dystopian future where punctuation is banned? :) For those like me who still require parsing assistance : - We are Bob - Red Rising - Murderbot

Hehe when I write it I separated them by return \n but Hacker News strips the single new lines. It's not very WYSIWYG

Re: Where did all the starships go?

#365

Post by kulahan »

hdgvhicv wrote: post #312
kulahan wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there's not a constant stream of consciousness throughout the entire process, I'm just assuming that's gonna be nothing more than a copy. What else could it be? When "you" wake up, it'll be 100% convincing either way, so I assume you can only prove it going in. I'm not great at philosophy though. Edit: biology is pretty efficient though. We might as well just start growing new bodies/parts for people, enhancing it…

What is a continuous stream. I was knocked unconscious for a few minutes in 2007 when I came off a bike. Am I the same person today as I was in 2005? On the other hand dementia eats away at memories and personality. My grandmother doesn’t remember having children (who are now in their late 70s), a husband (she had two), but does remember (mostly) life as a child. She wasnt unconscious though. (It’s basically the inev…

A continuous stream during the process of transfer, I mean. You would have to be fully disassembled in someway to transport you in such a manner, so it’s not really like the ship of Theseus here.

Re: Where did all the starships go?

#366

Post by kulahan »

brendoelfrendo wrote: post #237
kulahan wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think we'll ever populate a planet beyond the solar system, but I think at some point we'll leave Earth. The sun has an expiration date, after all. Maybe the space-flotilla species was the most accurate outcome after all, Mass Effect!

Warhammer 40,000 did it earlier with the Aeldari Craftworlds, and Battlestar Galactica did it before that.

I’m sure someone did it back in the 1800s too

Re: Where did all the starships go?

#367

Post by self_awareness »

jacquesm wrote: post #279
WalterBright wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't support Musk if he was a fascist nazi. My personal views are libertarian.

> I wouldn't support Musk if he was a fascist nazi. That's not how that works. Musk is, by many definitions well across the line distinguishing the 'fascist nazi's' from the rest of us. Normalization of deviance slowly shifts the window to the point where his behavior is excused. Some people think it is acceptable because of all of the (potential) good a person could do or has already done. That's roughly the equival…

I wonder what definition of 'nazi' are you using, because I'm sure as heck it's not the one that nazis used in the 1930s.

Maybe you're using the definition from a reddit story about a nazi bar?

If yes, then you shouldn't have any problem with me calling you a soviet?

Re: Where did all the starships go?

#368

Post by self_awareness »

direwolf20 wrote: post #353
WalterBright wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

google "what is libertarianism".

I asked you how you define them. Seems like you can't answer.

He just doesn't want to waste time on you and elegantly told you that you should find it in Wikipedia, as that's the definition he's using.
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