[OT] Spider Goats

[Furn_Darkside]

I also read that psychologists predict that many people will start developing a new kind of agorophobia associated with technology. The theory is that the world is about to start changing too fast for a lot of people to deal with.

Technophobes have existed for some time.

When radio waves were first used commercially, many believed it would destroy the brains of unborn children.

When television was first introduced, many believed stories it would cause cancer.

The same thing with microwaves..and heck, the chemical DDT was out right banned out of irrational fear.

If there was a "problem" with our society's acceptance of new science, then it is the opposite of a phobia. People too readily accept new technologies and sciences with little, if any, skepticism.

It is no longer a matter of "should", but a matter of "could".

FD

 

[apsuman]

hey! If they cross pigs with bird genes, I can finally get a date with Suzi, from sophmore year....

g!

 

[WinnipegDragon]

It's good to see my fellow Canadians are once again taking the lead in horrendously dangerous and mind-bendingly odd genetic research.

Soon, our Hockey Players will be able to skate at the speed of light. And goalies with eight arms! Ha! Whaddya think of that Russia! Makes Tretiak look like a big 'ol slice of swiss cheese!

I feel a song coming on...

OUR COUNTRY REEKS OF TREES,
OUR YAKS ARE REALLY LARGE,
AND THEY SMELL LIKE ROTTING BEEF CARCASSES!

 

[Hand of Vecna]

Getting slighlty back to the whale-sized-cows as world hjunger solver...

Wulf Ratbane was correct in that cows are terribly ineffiecient as a source of meat. However, some of you may have heard about the strain of featherless chickens developed in, I believe, Israel. These fabulous fowl could very well be a huge step towards ending world hunger, because the naked mutants can thrive in warmer climates than their feathered cousins can, and are slighlty more prolific than their prudish, feathered relatives.

Of course, the fact that they look like walking scrotums is slightly unsettling.....

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

Of course, if world hunger was caused by a lack of food resources, then that would be great.

Unfortunetly, it is not. It is caused by totalitarian governments and poor use of the land (i.e. lack of education).

FD

 

[Upper_Krust]

This is fascinating stuff! Thanks for the link Baron!

I wonder which country will be the first to have a biosteel tank...Canada?

Incidently, can you imagine if they make a suit of Battle Armour from this stuff - it would be like Clone Trooper Armour FOR REAL!

That is kind of funny. There is a subplot going on right now in Rainbow Six about that exact subject. Well they aren't using nanotechnology they are using Gene Mapping to extend life. Of course the big issue with doubling the average life expectincy of a human would be massive population growth. The planet is practically overpopulated now. . what happens when the death rate drops off the charts for a 100 years or so.

Undersea Cities. Orbital Cities. Colonise the Moon, then Mars etc. etc.

 

[Lizard]

That is kind of funny. There is a subplot going on right now in Rainbow Six about that exact subject. Well they aren't using nanotechnology they are using Gene Mapping to extend life. Of course the big issue with doubling the average life expectincy of a human would be massive population growth. The planet is practically overpopulated now. . what happens when the death rate drops off the charts for a 100 years or so.

Actually, the consequence of doubling lifespan would be increase the already rapid *drop* in the rate of population growth. (Read that carefully) People who live longer have FEWER children. In the industrial world, population growth is alread near 0 or negative; Italy has something like 1.2 children per woman, and the rest of Europe and America is close (2.1 children per woman is replacement rate)

If you could live to be 200, do you think you'd decide to have more kids when you hit 60? Once you've raised one set of brats, you sure as hell won't raise another! THINK, people! Look at your parents and grandparents! Did they have kids steadily throughout their lives? Hell, no! They had a few when they were young, and then stopped. Someone who expects to live to 80 is not going to have some more kids at 60, just because they've got 20 years left to raise them in.

In the industrial world, children are an economic drain on the family. They don't produce any income. Large families are a part of agricultural society. As the third world (currently the only source of real population growth) moves from an agrarian to an industrial society, with the usual increase in women's rights and control over their reproduction, population growth there will level off and begin to decline, too.

The crisis of the mid-21st century won't be a world choking on its young -- it will be world struggling to care for its old, as the population slowly, and inexorably, ages, with fewer and fewer children born to support the huge number of retirees. The aging crisis, not the population boom, is what y'all should be scared of.

Forget retirement. There will not be enough young people to support you; you'll work 'till you drop, unless you planned REAL well.

 

[Ashwyn]

Why has noone mentioned Mithril??? Sheesh, I'd think that would've been a given. Oh well. What shall these creatures be nick-named? Spoats? Giders? Spgideroats? And what of the kids? Won't someone PLEASE think of the kids?

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Won't someone PLEASE think of the kids?

Boooooooooooooo!

FD

 

[Ashwyn]

Did I do something wrong?