The difference is that in the solar system, certain dependable laws apply which TEND to make certain events more likely. Gravity is a good example - without it everything would just drift about, only encountering other things by chance - the likelihood of all the right ingredients for life coming together in the same place would be miniscule - and even if they did, without gravity, they wouldn't stay there. This is one tiny example from billions that could be given.
Within the closed universe of your shaken metal can there are very few elements. Nothing can be added, nothing can be changed except that the elements in your can will be broken down by the shaking.
The replies on this thread which bang on about having three cars or society meaning that we couldn't all live like that because it would require a planet the size of Jupiter are missing two essential points: a) get too far removed from homo sapiens' animal roots, and the ape-folk start dying of stress, poor diet, poor lifestyle, low self-esteem etc. Yes, folks, this means you. Patrons of modern so-called "Western society" are not dying of stress and its associated blights because their lives are so tough. They're dying of stress because nothing in their lives prepares them for fight-or-flight, and nothing in their lives permits them to exercise that instinct. Think about it. Better still, go out and kill something, and take the trouble to understand what that means. THEN think about it. b) fear of violence is one of the greatest destroyers of modern society. c) The evolutionary process is interrupted: the subtle but continuing method which refines homo sapiens is halted, at that species' own expense. This is both the benefit and the curse of modern society.
It's not about moralising at all. This is about what, ultimately, is going to help human beings survive intact, and what, ultimately, is going to do them very great harm as a species, by gradually eroding their strengths.
You don't seriously think that lab-growing meat will mean fewer hormones / chemicals, do you?
Flesh doesn't grow at all without certain hormonal and chemical triggers. Don't convince yourself that this meat will just spontaneously occur - the cells will have to take their nutrients from something in order to grow; and they will have to take their instructions (telling them what to make) from somewhere: this flesh will be grown in a "bath" of god-knows-what in a lab somewhere.
All humans in the workplace are only after what they can get? My dear chap... you either desperately need to change jobs, or you desperately need to change your medication.
I'd suggest getting out of that server room more often and actually trying to interact with some humans. But frankly, after reading what you wrote, I don't think it would be fair on the humans.
It's pretty friendly over here. I don't know about helping people pave their drives (hell! The very thought!) or learning spousal details (why?); but we certainly eat, drink and play together. If spouses get involved, all the better, although the problem is that we're a fairly closeknit team, so people who don't hang out with us all day tend to get accidentally left out of a lot of "in" jokes.
It's not just firemen. In fact it's not just men (women making the salad! You wouldn't have got away with that comment over here, chum!). The women in our team are as keen on beer and giggles as the rest of us. Everyone who takes the sort of stress levels you get in I.T. HAS to have beer and giggles. It should be mandatory.
I didn't actually see anywhere where it said the fungus WAS outside MIR.
I assumed the stuff was growing on the inside, and had been carried there in the atmosphere of Earth, or on the bodies of the Earthlings *cough* - sorry, As-tro-naughts.
Over here in the UK, we have a pretty high proportion of technical women (as opposed to women who train, or simply operate first-line Helpdesk/tech admin type positions). Certainly, it's geeky work - but there are plenty of women who are unafraid of being pointed at and called "geek-chick", provided they're taking home the nice, fat, geeky wage packet at the end of the day. Perhaps the American issue with a low number of technical women has less to do with the perception of "geek" as an unattractive position, and more to do with the slightly old-fashioned middle-class-white-American perception that the men should be the ones who earn the money.
While working in the US over the last few years, I have noticed that the majority of caucasian women who work in IS tend to be based on the customer-care side of the business (training etc); while there seem to be quite a few asian women in very technical roles (DBAs, cutting code etc).
This is no derogation of either caucasian or asian women - but perhaps this is a cultural issue where both cultures define "doing well" differently - one seems to be based on traditional western "feminine" standards; and the other is more focussed towards career-based issues, rather than whether one is perceived as "feminine" or not.
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The difference is that in the solar system, certain dependable laws apply which TEND to make certain events more likely. Gravity is a good example - without it everything would just drift about, only encountering other things by chance - the likelihood of all the right ingredients for life coming together in the same place would be miniscule - and even if they did, without gravity, they wouldn't stay there. This is one tiny example from billions that could be given.
Within the closed universe of your shaken metal can there are very few elements. Nothing can be added, nothing can be changed except that the elements in your can will be broken down by the shaking.
I agree with you, Valen.
The replies on this thread which bang on about having three cars or society meaning that we couldn't all live like that because it would require a planet the size of Jupiter are missing two essential points:
a) get too far removed from homo sapiens' animal roots, and the ape-folk start dying of stress, poor diet, poor lifestyle, low self-esteem etc. Yes, folks, this means you. Patrons of modern so-called "Western society" are not dying of stress and its associated blights because their lives are so tough. They're dying of stress because nothing in their lives prepares them for fight-or-flight, and nothing in their lives permits them to exercise that instinct. Think about it. Better still, go out and kill something, and take the trouble to understand what that means. THEN think about it.
b) fear of violence is one of the greatest destroyers of modern society.
c) The evolutionary process is interrupted: the subtle but continuing method which refines homo sapiens is halted, at that species' own expense. This is both the benefit and the curse of modern society.
It's not about moralising at all. This is about what, ultimately, is going to help human beings survive intact, and what, ultimately, is going to do them very great harm as a species, by gradually eroding their strengths.
H.
You don't seriously think that lab-growing meat will mean fewer hormones / chemicals, do you?
Flesh doesn't grow at all without certain hormonal and chemical triggers. Don't convince yourself that this meat will just spontaneously occur - the cells will have to take their nutrients from something in order to grow; and they will have to take their instructions (telling them what to make) from somewhere: this flesh will be grown in a "bath" of god-knows-what in a lab somewhere.
Pass the lettuce. *groo*
Wow.
All humans in the workplace are only after what they can get? My dear chap ... you either desperately need to change jobs, or you desperately need to change your medication.
I'd suggest getting out of that server room more often and actually trying to interact with some humans. But frankly, after reading what you wrote, I don't think it would be fair on the humans.
H.
It's pretty friendly over here. I don't know about helping people pave their drives (hell! The very thought!) or learning spousal details (why?); but we certainly eat, drink and play together. If spouses get involved, all the better, although the problem is that we're a fairly closeknit team, so people who don't hang out with us all day tend to get accidentally left out of a lot of "in" jokes.
It's not just firemen. In fact it's not just men (women making the salad! You wouldn't have got away with that comment over here, chum!). The women in our team are as keen on beer and giggles as the rest of us. Everyone who takes the sort of stress levels you get in I.T. HAS to have beer and giggles. It should be mandatory.
H.
I assumed the stuff was growing on the inside, and had been carried there in the atmosphere of Earth, or on the bodies of the Earthlings *cough* - sorry, As-tro-naughts.
H.
Not necessarily. Just because they don't use oxygen, it doesn't mean oxygen destroys them. H.
This is a cultural issue.
Over here in the UK, we have a pretty high proportion of technical women (as opposed to women who train, or simply operate first-line Helpdesk/tech admin type positions). Certainly, it's geeky work - but there are plenty of women who are unafraid of being pointed at and called "geek-chick", provided they're taking home the nice, fat, geeky wage packet at the end of the day. Perhaps the American issue with a low number of technical women has less to do with the perception of "geek" as an unattractive position, and more to do with the slightly old-fashioned middle-class-white-American perception that the men should be the ones who earn the money.
While working in the US over the last few years, I have noticed that the majority of caucasian women who work in IS tend to be based on the customer-care side of the business (training etc); while there seem to be quite a few asian women in very technical roles (DBAs, cutting code etc).
This is no derogation of either caucasian or asian women - but perhaps this is a cultural issue where both cultures define "doing well" differently - one seems to be based on traditional western "feminine" standards; and the other is more focussed towards career-based issues, rather than whether one is perceived as "feminine" or not.
H.