On 22 Aug 2015, at 08:16, Kelly St. Clair wrote:
> On 8/21/2015 5:28 PM, Tim wrote:
>
>> Or more simply, assume that the Traveller universe has such a shift
>> naturally.  There would be minor consequences for Big Bang
>> nucleosynthesis and stronger ones for supernova dynamics, but nothing
>> that couldn't be patched.
>
> ... orrrr you could acknowledge that we are talking about comic book, space opera and/or tabletop RPG science, which was mostly made up off the cuff, and never meant to stand up to 40+ years of scrutiny and analysis, some by actual experts in the field.
>
> I mean, I get the urge to go all Watsonian on this (geeky minds /love/ this kind of deep, arcane, and/or masturbatory thought exercise), but the reason I always go full Doylist in these cases is that I believe - and submit to the list - that it is a doomed effort.  The entire reason we're talking about this is that it's come up as yet another place where the universe as described is not consistent, either with our own /or itself/.  You cannot construct a coherent, consistent set of alternate physics on a foundation which is neither; it is a hopeless effort. Garbage In, Garbage Out.
>
> But hey, if you honestly have nothing better to do than spend hours trying to make sense of some technobabble that a hack writer for Star Trek or DC Comics or Astounding Science Fiction or the Judges Guild pulled out of his ass to meet a deadline that afternoon, based on a third-hand understanding of what we thought we knew last century... don't let me stop you.

As a fully paid up member of the 'if it looks good, go for it!' faction of Traveller fans, I say go for it! That, Kelly, was a fantastically well argued position, and all in less than two pages. This post is a keeper.

On the other hand, I have great sympathy for the Red Queen, who could believe six impossible things before breakfast.

On the gripping hand, my inner neurotic paranoid schizophrenic has had his exercise for today. Time for him to go back to sleep. 'Night all!

Regards, Andy

--
Andrew Long
Andrew dot Long at Mac dot com