Search found 8640 matches

by Guardsman Bass
2020-10-05 01:53am
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Demographic Transition and Minimalism
Replies: 16
Views: 15901

Re: Demographic Transition and Minimalism

Even in poor countries with limited economic growth, we're seeing a downward trend in fertility rates (as best as we can tell - obviously our data gets poorer once you go back more than a few decades in a bunch of places). That makes me suspect that high birth rates in the past had more to do with l...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-09-09 12:25am
Forum: Fantasy
Topic: Magic vs Science
Replies: 18
Views: 10643

Re: Magic vs Science

I'll second the Earwa/Second Apocalypse magic. Magic/sorcery is overwriting reality, but sorcerers are limited by rules of metaphysics they don't entirely understand, as well as the language they use to try and express incantations. A big point of the series is that most sorcerers can only "sin...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-06-01 03:19am
Forum: Fantasy
Topic: The Tick (2017)
Replies: 3
Views: 4711

Re: The Tick (2017)

I loved it too. It was a bit hard for me to get through the first 2-3 episodes, but after that I was fully into it. The Tick is fantastic, Arthur's pretty good too, the humor is great, and Overkill and Dot are great (they have phenomenal chemistry, which makes the twisted relationship Overkill has w...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-05-31 07:13pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: validity of using gene drive tech to control pests
Replies: 11
Views: 17191

Re: validity of using gene drive tech to control pests

Vox.com has a very good story on it as well. It's a bit long, so I don't want to post the whole thing here - it's focused more on the possibility of wiping out the handful of mosquito species (there are ~3500 mosquito species in total) that can carry human diseases (especially malaria), or on making...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-05-31 01:14am
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: ULA workers strike over latest contract offer
Replies: 16
Views: 9349

Re: ULA workers strike over latest contract offer

SpaceX has gotten about $2 billion in funding rounds over the past 16 years, and some of that was from Musk himself. Given the business and the development costs of all this, I don't think that's enough to say that he's just been providing subsidized flights off the backs of gullible investors. For ...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-05-27 01:37pm
Forum: Pure Star Wars
Topic: Solo release thread (spoilers)
Replies: 165
Views: 110382

Re: Solo release thread (spoilers)

The number of old Legends EU references they worked into it was pretty wild. Carida, Mimban, the Kessel Run - tons of them. It was funny how how Han got his last name, although doesn't he say that he had a father who worked in one of the shipyards/ship-building plants before he lost his job? Did he ...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-05-27 06:17am
Forum: Pure Star Wars
Topic: Solo release thread (spoilers)
Replies: 165
Views: 110382

Re: Solo release thread (spoilers)

Everyone who ever disagreed with me that droids are slaves and the restraining bolt is barbarism, I will now accept your concessions. Conceded, although I predict that the Star Wars movies going forward will have zero interest in exploring this idea, and will treat L3-37 as a strange anomaly whose ...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-05-22 01:52am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: The Fable of the Dragon Tyrant
Replies: 60
Views: 43385

Re: The Fable of the Dragon Tyrant

I'm in agreement with Eulogy. I'm extremely skeptical that any massive triumph over aging that was only available to the rich would be politically sustainable.
by Guardsman Bass
2018-04-26 09:08pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Westworld Season 2 thread (SPOILERS!!!)
Replies: 25
Views: 21774

Re: Westworld Season 2 thread (SPOILERS!!!)

I think it was Teddy too. I'm leaning towards either "Bernard is somehow carrying the backed-up data of the hosts on him, and will leave with it at the end of the season" or "Bernard helped the rebellious hosts do what Maeve did and switch into new bomb-free bodies, with the old ones ...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-04-23 01:20am
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Westworld Season 2 thread (SPOILERS!!!)
Replies: 25
Views: 21774

Westworld Season 2 thread (SPOILERS!!!)

You've all been warned. Spoilers ahoy! We're back in Westworld, apparently just one of at least six parks (which must at least partially be on the same island, since the tiger managed to wander over from Park 6). It sounds like the island is in southeast asia somewhere, although I don't know where. ...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-03-01 12:40am
Forum: Fantasy
Topic: What would you want to be in Jurassic Park/World
Replies: 8
Views: 7002

Re: What would you want to be in Jurassic Park/World

I'd really like to see some Allosaurs. Their bones are all over the place in Utah, so it would be pretty neat to see a live one in the flesh.
by Guardsman Bass
2018-02-18 12:49pm
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Falcon heavy launch livestream LIVE NOW
Replies: 50
Views: 22911

Re: Falcon heavy launch livestream LIVE NOW

I'll second Sky Captain - Falcon Heavy is aimed more at the satellite launch business (assuming it has a decent run before Musk abandons it for the BFR). It could be used for interplanetary missions, if it was used to assemble modules in orbit, refuel them, and then launch the assembled spacecraft i...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-02-11 02:50pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Let's talk about the Recent(past year or so) WH40K fluff updates. Spoilers all
Replies: 108
Views: 67785

Re: Let's talk about the Recent(past year or so) WH40K fluff updates. Spoilers all

How does the Horus Heresy work if the Emperor has such a detached, impersonal view of his primarchs? Wouldn't he have terminated Horus with cold indifference when they finally battled, rather than letting Horus mortally wound him before he finally decides his son can't be saved? It's a pity, because...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-02-11 02:39pm
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Falcon heavy launch livestream LIVE NOW
Replies: 50
Views: 22911

Re: Falcon heavy launch livestream LIVE NOW

Robotic exploration is absolutely valuable. Going beyond the specific purposes that Broomstick pointed out, in general it's always good to remember that humanity exists on a tiny speck within a much vaster universe. We should be putting good resources into understanding that, both for beneficial pur...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-02-11 12:33am
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Falcon heavy launch livestream LIVE NOW
Replies: 50
Views: 22911

Re: Falcon heavy launch livestream LIVE NOW

Useless junk is the normal payload for test flights. Musk sticking his car inside instead at least generated some lovely pictures and video. He apparently did reach out to NASA to see if they wanted to put something on it. They declined. It's a pity, because a free flight even with a 50% failure rat...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-02-02 01:36am
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Scenario Drill: Nuclear missile attack
Replies: 29
Views: 15675

Re: Scenario Drill: Nuclear missile attack

I got 27 kilometers and 92 degrees.

. . . Honestly, I think I might be fine in the short term. The nuke is going to detonate 27 kilometers away and on the other side of a big part of the Wasatch Mountains, which means the worst thing I probably have to fear is contamination of the watershed.
by Guardsman Bass
2018-01-30 01:34am
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Interstellar government in hard sci-fi.
Replies: 31
Views: 20357

Re: Interstellar government in hard sci-fi.

As has been brought up, effective immortality changes a lot of these scenarios. Having an interstellar theocracy becomes a real possibility when the priests ministering to the colonies over millennia are the same people who were trained back in the home system and then sent out (as long as they're n...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-01-17 08:01pm
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: I got Married!
Replies: 47
Views: 33439

Re: I got Married!

Congrats!
by Guardsman Bass
2018-01-07 01:21am
Forum: Fantasy
Topic: Game of Thrones What-if: Rhaegar wins.
Replies: 13
Views: 7564

Re: Game of Thrones What-if: Rhaegar wins.

That said, while the Riverlands could probably be overrun, it would be exceedingly difficult, I imagine, to subdue the Vale and the North by force. The North, while lightly populated, is huge, inhospitable, and accessable by land only at a single, easily fortified and defended point. And I'm skepti...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-01-06 01:59am
Forum: Fantasy
Topic: Game of Thrones What-if: Rhaegar wins.
Replies: 13
Views: 7564

Re: Game of Thrones What-if: Rhaegar wins.

Even if they get routed at the Trident, the combination of the North, Vale, and Riverlands forces are pretty formidable. It's very likely (especially with the talented leadership - Ned, the now-late Robert, and Stannis appear to have been military prodigies) that they'd reform their forces and try a...
by Guardsman Bass
2018-01-04 02:23am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Runaway capitalism, not AI is the threat
Replies: 43
Views: 26889

Re: Runaway capitalism, not AI is the threat

I do think the silly startups (what Scott Alexander called "uber for tacos") get too much attention. Most Silicon Valley startups are either trying to do something genuinely beneficial and big, or they're business-side stuff that you usually don't hear about because the average person isn'...
by Guardsman Bass
2017-12-22 01:11am
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Jurassic World- Fallen Kingdom Trailer
Replies: 19
Views: 10890

Re: Jurassic World- Fallen Kingdom Trailer

I think in the Jurassic Park novel, the "T-Rex vision" wasn't something it supposedly had before it became extinct. It was just a weird side-effect of splicing in amphibian DNA as part of recreating dinosaurs. There was also a pretty cool Harry Wu segment where he tries to explain to Hammo...
by Guardsman Bass
2017-12-22 12:52am
Forum: Fantasy
Topic: You find the Sword in the Stone (RAR)
Replies: 27
Views: 13561

Re: You find the Sword in the Stone (RAR)

It's just a fancy sword, right? I'd probably trade it to the existing British royals or someone else in exchange for money, either a lump sum or a generous stipend (getting a castle would be cool too). The royals could then put it next to the crown jewels on display. Unless there's something else go...
by Guardsman Bass
2017-12-22 12:50am
Forum: Fantasy
Topic: Bright: Netflix Movie
Replies: 23
Views: 10769

Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

The reviews I've read have said it's got some interesting stuff, but the movie is a mess. It might have been better as a multi-episode mini-series instead of a single film.

I'll still give it a watch, though, at some point.
by Guardsman Bass
2017-12-19 03:36pm
Forum: Pure Star Wars
Topic: Star Wars: The Last Jedi release thread (spoilers)
Replies: 1842
Views: 559786

Re: Star Wars: The Last Jedi release thread (spoilers)

IIRC haven't the comic books basically been stripped of all canonical status? Yes. I think the entire EU continuity - everything aside from the films, the Clone Wars TV series, and whatever tie-in books were published after The Force Awakens - has been kicked into the non-canonical "Legends&qu...