Osiris

Luna State wrote:

Question Of The Day!!

What movie/book universe would be the worst to live in?

The Giver

Dragonian Alliance wrote:

This is probably not the worst possible scenario, but it is pretty bad. There is a factitious form of Ice called Ice 9 in Cat's Cradle(?). I will simplify the science behind it, but (ignoring the real ice 9 in science records) this form of ice is stable as a solid at room temperature. It was developed as a way to turn rough terrain for a military such as swamps, marsh, and the rest into a more solid surface to navigate. Due to science all molecules seek to rest at the lowest energy level possible. Therefore when a molecule encounters another molecule that is the same, but at a lower energy state the higher energy molecule will refold to enter that lower energy state (PRIONS!!!). You can probably guess by this point that room temperature liquid water encountering a stable solid version of room temperature water could be bad. Therefore, in this scenario liquid water upon contact with a solid crystal of ice 9 'refolds' into a solid.

Implications: Most liquid water is in a matter of days turned to a solid undrinkable mass. Animals and plants have the water in their systems harden, expand, and spread. A few vital systems such as weather, oceanic currents, and the biosphere begin to fail.The world quickly and inefficiently moves to secure water from any possible contact with ice 9. Inevitably their systems fail under the test of time. Thankfully actual Ice-IX is less 'evil'. The scenario, however, is still possible. There are a few astronomical theories that various vital pieces to the fabric of the universe may have a lower energy state than their current value, so if one were to ever descend to the lower energy state, it could in theory cause a cascade that would obliterate the universe at the speed of light.

Sweet Dreams :)

I remember when I first read about prions and classic Jakob-Cruezfeldt disease, a human prion disease, back in the 90's. I was sitting in Amsterdam's Centraal Station cafe, the one only lost tourists and Dutch people over the age of 70 go to, wolfing down bowl after bowl of green split pea soup with beef sausage chunks cooked right in it. Prions cause a neurodegenerative disorder with characteristic clinical and diagnostic features. The disease is rapidly progressive and always fatal. Infection leads to death usually within 1 year of onset of illness. The UK and The Netherlands had dozens of current cases being diagnosed. I sweated bullets for a year wondering if I was going to go ape and do something crazy and die foaming at the mouth pulling my own eyes out by the stalks. Needless to say I survived.

Luna State wrote:

Question Of The Day!!

What technology from a science fiction movie/book would you most like to have?

The Final Encyclopedia from Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai novels.

Luna State wrote:

Question Of The Day!!

What movie/book universe would be the worst to live in?

Stephen R. Donaldson's the GAP sequence of novels or perhaps Frank Herbert's Dune during the reign of the Kwisatz Haderach.

Rednecktown wrote:

The Giver

I mean, the Giver's universe really wasn't the worst compared to some others out there.

Take Fantastica from Neverending Story, for example. It's a beautiful, ever changing place...but literally all it takes is people in the outside world deciding not to read nor anyone giving the Empress a new name, and that paradise turns into literal hell for mere moments as it slowly fades into nothing (unless you go by the movie where everything ripped apart as well as if being gradually sucked away by a black hole). Hell, people caught by the Nothing would get affected with the part that touched it disappearing as if it never existed. Painlessly, but good lord that'd still be terrifying.

Luna State wrote:

Question Of The Day!!

What’s the smartest thing you’ve seen an animal do?

I saw a video of a small dog driving one of those plastic mini-jeeps for kids.