Extract:
"Old Loony plans to make like a Greek and build Celestial Spheres around the Earth with stars painted on them and the moon projected onto the inner sphere by a laser spotlight! And you stand there, nodding your head as if this were a perfectly sane ambition! Then you tell me he wants this done because he thinks the universe as it stands is 'aesthetically displeasing'. This from a man with the aesthetic sense of a flame-thrower. He's mad, Mike, and you're mad to go along with him.
The environmental lobby for one would sooner eat whale than let us build these spheres."
I and some collaborators are designing a three-armed robot, inspired by the moties in "The Mote in God's Eye". It looks like the extra arm could greatly simplify many operations. When you and Jerry Pournelle were writing this book, did you have ideas about the specific advantages a third arm would confer?
Slashdot Mirror
Disguise the Limit
Extract: "Old Loony plans to make like a Greek and build Celestial Spheres around the Earth with stars painted on them and the moon projected onto the inner sphere by a laser spotlight! And you stand there, nodding your head as if this were a perfectly sane ambition! Then you tell me he wants this done because he thinks the universe as it stands is 'aesthetically displeasing'. This from a man with the aesthetic sense of a flame-thrower. He's mad, Mike, and you're mad to go along with him. The environmental lobby for one would sooner eat whale than let us build these spheres."
Mr Niven,
I and some collaborators are designing a three-armed robot, inspired by the moties in "The Mote in God's Eye". It looks like the extra arm could greatly simplify many operations. When you and Jerry Pournelle were writing this book, did you have ideas about the specific advantages a third arm would confer?