-------------------------------------------- On Mon, 8/3/15, Robert <xxxxxx@ozemail.com.au> wrote: Subject: Re: Aslan aroundthe'Horn'? was Re: [TML] Aslan Border Wars To: xxxxxx@simplelists.com Date: Monday, August 3, 2015, 5:33 PM Phil Pugliese wrote: > You are speaking as the equiv of a caveman to modern-day man. No, humans now know a lot more than cavemen did about reproductive biology. You're arguing the biological equivalent of 'planets and stars are no longer roughly spherical in the TU.' ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ And you're arguing that, somehow, in your omniscient wisdom, you can declare that certain things will be *absolutely* impossible thousands of years from now & at much higher tech levels. And you are taking me to task? Oh, pluh-leeze! ========================================================== I wrote: > The typical Traveller TL hasn't got to the stage where you can redefine > natural constants like pi. That appears to be Ancient-level capability, at best. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ And yet there are many, many things that the TU has redefined; re:Jump Drive is possible at TL9? That makes a lot of current principles invalid, doesn't it? And let's not even go into psi-powers! ====================================================== Phil wrote: > You can't say w/ any certainty at all what will or will not be possible so > far in the future & w/ such greatly advanced tech. Sure we can - the published material describes what the technology is and what its capabilities are. We can explore how the technology described in the canon material could work. If that's not a valid discussion topic for this list, well... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Well if you can than I can too, & I say that what you believe will be impossible will eventually turn out to be a slam-dunk after thousands & thousands of years! =================================================================== and: > Cloning is what Norris has done, no? Apparently. It may be socially acceptable in the Imperium, but how does it fit into the Aslan honor concept (fteir)? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Well the title was an Imperial Title so cloning would have been OK on that score &. to an aslan, not producinf a prodigious litter would be a pretty big dishonor right there. ================================================================ and: > Yeah well the groundbreaking work of the famous Dr Whats-iz-name brought > all that under control a > long, long time before the 3I even existed. re: Ecyclopedia Imperica, > umpteenth edition, Univ. of > Sylea... (Human) evolution ceased everywhere? Interesting. The instability of genomes is entropy pushing on biology. Evolution is life's way of trying to cheat thermodynamics. Remember: Zeroth: You must play the game. First: You can't win. Second: You can't break even. Third: You can't quit the game. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "The professor chuckles how far off the mark TL9 humans could be & then, continuing his lecture, 'One must always bear in mind that these, relatively, primitive sophonts weren't any less intelligent than we are in the present day. It's just that they were, understandably ignorant, of all the advances that would appear almost magical to them but are mundane to us. And it's also natural for the leading intellects of almost any era to assume that they've reached a pinnacle of wisdom from which they can gaze forward & back, secure of the validity of their superior knowledge. =======================================================================