Frank Theriault wrote:
>I'm not a Sci Fi fan at all. I'm even less of a Star Trek fan (sorry, guys), so >I haven't been following this thread at all. But, I did read your post, Butch, >and you do pose some interesting questions, to which I have a few random >thoughts.
I enjoy Star Trek as pure 'escapism', at the end of a bad day dealing with life at the start of the 21st Century!
I have quite a few issues with it though:
Knowing how you feel in a Ferrari giving it some welly from 0 to 60 mph, you feel pushed back in the seat - 0 to 186000 miles per second and multiples thereof would atomise you;
Compensating force fields, a device used in a lot of Science Fiction because, well because otherwise your crew would be jelly, and a bit more likely than say the FTL drive itself.
I can't believe that all intelligent life forms will be carbon based or look like us;
I doubt they will look like us but I'll bet on carbon based, at least the one's well interact with will be. (But I'd still bet against any other chemistry producing life).
Seeing that some light takes hundreds/thousands + years to arrive to Earth, even if you had the capability to travel much faster than light, there is no guarantee these star systems would still exist when you travelled to them;
Star lifetimes are relatively predictable, even at the FTL speeds postulated by most SF if a star is with a couple hundred light years you can pretty confidently predict it'll still be there when you arrive.
I agree with Keith of the possibility and that an alien species who found us (and therefore far more technically advanced) would be benevolent and (my comment) might look at our planet as useful resources, or us as food <gulp!>. With Voyager, we have even sent our address!
Ah, but any star faring race wouldn't want our planet for resources. They'd
want the Solar system. (They might leave us alone on our rock except we're too
clever so if I were them I'd _remove_ any possible competition). I doubt they
would find us tasty enough and as raw materials for factory food there's lots of
CHON out in the outer solar system.
Of course, we only have a limited time to develop or evolve enough to explore the galaxies - although a long time away the Sun has a finite existence, so we will have to become travellers....or casualties.
Anyway...
Hello to all and sorry to hear about Glenn and Frank's misfortunes. I hope the thief who stole the bag gets what's coming to him.
I have had the opportunity to borrow a digital camera and the appeal to immediately see what you have taken or modify the shot on computer is compulsive. I am still hanging in for a look at the D*ist, even though it has been put back to August for availability. I came within 12 meters of my first film scanner. Whilst being delivered, the driver on top of the tail lift on the truck thought his friend on the road had it, and he thought the driver had it. It made a very expensive noise on landing on the road. It was a sale item too, so no replacement, but they made no fuss about liability or refund.
I found last week I had a day to myself and took the camera (LX) into the forest for some pictures of my town from the top of the hill. The weather has been very hot but a bit overcast here at times and I normally rush to take what I want. This time when it went overcast, I relaxed and read a book until the light was perfect again - I can't wait to see the result of that film.
Regards to all,
Malcolm
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. --Groucho Marx
