Post A Reply
my profile
|
directory
login
|
search
|
faq
|
forum home
»
Flare Sci-Fi Forums
»
Sci-Fi
»
Designs, Artwork, & Creativity
»
You will never die!!
» Post A Reply
Post A Reply
Login Name:
Password:
Message:
HTML is enabled.
UBB Code™ is enabled.
Instant Graemlins
Instant UBB Code™
What is UBB Code™?
Options
Disable Graemlins in this post.
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" width="95%" align="center"> <tr bgcolor="#234c6f"><td> <table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1"> <tr bgcolor="#234c6f"> <td colspan="2" align="left"> <font size="3" color="#FFFFFF" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b>T O P I C ��� R E V I E W</b> </font></td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#A3B9CC"> <td valign="top" width="18%"> <font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b>The Talented Mr. Gurgeh</b> <br /><small>Member # 318</small> </font></td> <td width="82%"> <font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <img src="https://flare.solareclipse.net/posticon.gif" border="0" alt=" - " /> posted <script language="JavaScript1.3" type="text/javascript"> document.write(timestamp(new Date(2000,4,1,9,7,0), dfrm, tfrm, 0, 0, 0, 0)); </script><noscript><span class="dateformat-0">May 01, 2000</span> <span class="timeformat-0">09:07 AM</span></noscript><hr /> </font> <font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Here's an idea that one of the guys on a mailing list I'm on thought of(but I think New Scientist had already covered it):<P>As an aside, standard quantum mechanics does *not* allow faster than<BR>light communication through manipulations of entangled pairs.<P>Okay, here's my neat idea for an sf story (and this one is definitely<BR>not released under the GPL):<P>I'm sure that you're all aware of the many-worlds interpretation of<BR>quantum mechanics (and it doesn't really matter if you aren't, as long<BR>as you have some grasp of the more general idea of each event leading<BR>to a branching of many alternative universes). Now, imagine an<BR>instantaneous disintegrator linked to a quantum coin-flipper (i.e. a<BR>device that evolves into an equal superposition of "heads" and "tails";<BR>something that you can make using electron spins or something). The<BR>disintegrator is set to zap its contents when one of the quantum coins<BR>lands heads up. Now I step into the chamber and the coin is flipped.<BR>The universe branches into two alternatives, one in which I'm instantly<BR>fried, and another in which I happily step out of the machine. To<BR>everybody else there's an equal chance of either outcome. For me,<BR>however, I always survive, because I can't find myself in the branch in<BR>which I'm fried. I go into the chamber again and repeat the process.<BR>Now three out of four universes are filled with my grief-stricken<BR>friends and family, but I find myself in the one in four in which I'm<BR>not zapped. I can do this as many times as I like, and as long as the<BR>many worlds interpretation is right I always survive.<P>Now, here's the neat idea. Experiencing death now becomes impossible,<BR>because there are *always* branches in which the person survives. It's<BR>certainly possible to see people die from the outside, but never from<BR>the inside, regardless of the circumstances. Of course, there's no<BR>guarantee that you survive with any quality of life, just that you<BR>never die. However, suppose that you set things up so that the only<BR>alternatives are that you die or something wildly improbable happens<BR>(like the guys in the next lab finally figure out how to damp out<BR>nuclear reactions or build forcefields or something). Then you find<BR>yourself in a universe in which that wildly improbable occurence<BR>occurs. And you can do this repeatedly until you end up in the<BR>scientific utopia of your dreams...<P>Or states can use the disintegrator to execute criminals, secure in the<BR>knowledge that they aren't extinguishing that person, just shuffling<BR>everybody else into a universe in which the criminal is dead...<P>------------------<BR>"Try not.<BR> Do.<BR> Or Do not.<BR> There is no try."<BR>-Yoda, Jedi Master.<P><BR><p>[This message has been edited by Gurgeh (edited May 01, 2000).] <br /> </font> </td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#E5EAEF"> <td valign="top" width="18%"> <font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b>Gaseous Anomaly</b> <br /><small>Member # 114</small> </font></td> <td width="82%"> <font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <img src="https://flare.solareclipse.net/posticon.gif" border="0" alt=" - " /> posted <script language="JavaScript1.3" type="text/javascript"> document.write(timestamp(new Date(2000,4,1,10,37,0), dfrm, tfrm, 0, 0, 0, 0)); </script><noscript><span class="dateformat-0">May 01, 2000</span> <span class="timeformat-0">10:37 AM</span></noscript><hr /> </font> <font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> What if you suffer a cardiac arrest whilst strolling to the door, before you get the chance to perform your next jump/slide/fate-avoider.<P>And what about <I>aging</I>, James? You can jump and jump all you like, but you'll still age - unless the jumps took place at a rate faster than the decay of all the atoms and cells in your body - some Utopian lifestyle you'd be able to form then, eh?<BR>And what death are you cheating, exactly? You're only bringing the fiery fate of half of you on yourself by choosing to step into that machine.<P>You do realise that this for this to work the chamber would need to be travelling at over two-thirds the speed of light (in a vacuum doh!) while "flying" the shape of a half-hitch knot around two superstrings which penetrate the event horizon of a two-month old black hole, into whose singularity you must plunge two old wine corks, a TV Times with Noel Edmonds on the cover that <I>isn't a Xmas Edition</I> and a I/O connector from a Sinclair. <BR>Also, <B>you</B> are required to be holding a plastic coat-hanger on one hand and a divining rod between the 2nd and 3rd toes of your left foot, the whole enterprise occuring on the Tuesday of the week <I>prior</I> to your setting out (as the laws of physics as we know them have no meaning in black holes, that bit is easy provided you bring at least 30 Solar Masses with you around the superstrings, enough to alter the 'orbit'/tilt of the black hole sufficient for you to be sucked in (eventually, butdon't worry! the plan is naerly flawless!) but <I>sent backwards</I> through time! But only as far as the previous Tuesday!)<P>Clever, eh?<BR> <IMG SRC="http://flare.solareclipse.net/wink.gif"><P>------------------<BR>Secret spies frm China try to steal you mind's elation,<BR>Little girls from Sweden dream of silver screen flirtation,<BR>And if you want these kind of dreams<BR>It's Californication.<BR> <br /> </font> </td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#A3B9CC"> <td valign="top" width="18%"> <font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b>TSN</b> <br /><small>Member # 31</small> </font></td> <td width="82%"> <font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <img src="https://flare.solareclipse.net/posticon.gif" border="0" alt=" - " /> posted <script language="JavaScript1.3" type="text/javascript"> document.write(timestamp(new Date(2000,4,1,11,40,0), dfrm, tfrm, 0, 0, 0, 0)); </script><noscript><span class="dateformat-0">May 01, 2000</span> <span class="timeformat-0">11:40 AM</span></noscript><hr /> </font> <font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Well, this falls more under fanfic than general sci-fi, doesn't it? I think this is going to be the first time I've ever moved a thread to a <i>higher</i>-traffic Forum...<P>------------------<BR>Harold: "You're missing the point!"<BR>Red: "Well, I don't like points."<BR>-<I>The Red Green Show</I> <br /> </font> </td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#E5EAEF"> <td valign="top" width="18%"> <font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b>Bernd</b> <br /><small>Member # 6</small> </font></td> <td width="82%"> <font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <img src="https://flare.solareclipse.net/posticon.gif" border="0" alt=" - " /> posted <script language="JavaScript1.3" type="text/javascript"> document.write(timestamp(new Date(2000,4,2,6,43,0), dfrm, tfrm, 0, 0, 0, 0)); </script><noscript><span class="dateformat-0">May 02, 2000</span> <span class="timeformat-0">06:43 AM</span></noscript><hr /> </font> <font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> I we take aging is a statistical and accumulative decay of cells, it might be possible to slow it down likewise (although I could imagine more plausible methods).<P>------------------<BR>"Species 5618, human. Warp-capable, origin grid 325, physiology inefficient, below average cranium capacity, minimum redundant systems, limited regenerative abilities."<BR><A HREF="http://www.uni-siegen.de/~ihe/bs/startrek/" TARGET=_blank>Ex Astris Scientia</A> <br /> </font> </td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#A3B9CC"> <td valign="top" width="18%"> <font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b>The Talented Mr. Gurgeh</b> <br /><small>Member # 318</small> </font></td> <td width="82%"> <font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <img src="https://flare.solareclipse.net/posticon.gif" border="0" alt=" - " /> posted <script language="JavaScript1.3" type="text/javascript"> document.write(timestamp(new Date(2000,4,3,7,45,0), dfrm, tfrm, 0, 0, 0, 0)); </script><noscript><span class="dateformat-0">May 03, 2000</span> <span class="timeformat-0">07:45 AM</span></noscript><hr /> </font> <font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> The idea behind creating a scientific utopia via the destruction of oneself in every universe except the ones where miraculous discoveries are made etc. is to eventually find oneself in a universe where technology exists that permits the manufacture of anti-agatic drugs, or simply genofixing (altering your genome) to get rid of the ageing process altogether(theoretically possible if DNA is incorporated into the genome which gives rise to enzymes which expel oxidising radicles, the cause of ageing, from the body).<P>Of course, JD, if you'd been reading your Culture books you'd already know this. In the Culture, thousands of enhancements, major and minor, have been made to the "human-basic" genome, such as 200-300 year lifespan (upgradeable to immortality), blister-free callousing, enhanced immune system, ability to grow back severed limbs, enhanced senses, higher IQ(~1.2*human-basic), drug glands, and of course, ten minute orgasms.<P>All of this is becoming more and more plausible as gene-therapy is being perfected. A virus introduced to the body can reach <I>every</I> cell in the body, changing the DNA in each one. This was recently carried out on babies with a rare genetic condition where there is absolutely no immune system, and the child has to live in a sterile environment. A virus was given to them which altered their chromosomes adding the necessary genes required to give rise to a proper immune system. The babies are now expected to have immune systems as good as any normal child's.<P>But I don't <I>really</I> buy into the whole alternate universe thing, there are far too many flaws in it for me. I just posted it for interests sake.<P>------------------<BR>"Try not.<BR> Do.<BR> Or Do not.<BR> There is no try."<BR>-Yoda, Jedi Master.<P><BR> <br /> </font> </td></tr> </table></td></tr></table> <br /> <br />
© 1999-2024 Charles Capps
Powered by UBB.classic™ 6.7.3
