[_ Old Earth _] The difference between normal people and scientists

[jasonc]

Science brought us the nuclear age.. was Einstein was an engineer..

Einstein was a phycist.he did cross fields. BTW chernyobyl stI'll leaks.gamma radiation can't be stopped by lead nor concrete just miniminuzed

 

[jasonc]

I want one thing answered by scientists/engineers...do androids dream of electric sheep?

Data will know

 

[jasonc]

Been done. More than once.

Parasitologist Paul Prociv infected himself to further his research
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/06/04/4248031.htm

Science is a calling. You can call it work if you want to, but for people lucky enough to have been able to do it, it's pure fun.

Point made

 

[Mike S]

Sadly it will all be lost, like tears in the rain.

I think one has to be a Philip K. Dick fan.

 

[Barbarian]

do androids dream of electric sheep?

All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace
I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.
Richard Brautigan

It was a simpler, more optimistic time. (with very primitive I/O)

 

[Milk-Drops]

I think one has to be a Philip K. Dick fan.

I was in tears when I read the "The Last Question". I love that man's work.

Edit: Oops, I was thinking of Isaac Asimov

A link to a comic form.
http://imgur.com/gallery/9KWrH

Blade Runner is still one of my favorite movies.

 

[Barbarian]

Of course, that guy is completely wrong. The Sun will pretty much be gone in about 5 billion years. But there are new Sun-like stars forming right now, which will still be functional 9 billion years from now.

 

[Milk-Drops]

Of course, that guy is completely wrong. The Sun will pretty much be gone in about 5 billion years. But there are new Sun-like stars forming right now, which will still be functional 9 billion years from now.

But it still isn't forever.

 

[Barbarian]

Not forever. But the author completely misunderstands how stars are formed and how they die. Nine billion years from now, there will be new suns forming to replace those forming today.

Unless God decides to shut down the system.

 

[Hyla C]

Scientists put a higher value on knowledge than personal safety in many cases. The history of science is filled with such stories. As one scientist put it, "who wouldn't take another zap if you could learn how a lightning box worked?" (Edit: a lot of people, it seems; curiosity isn't the compelling drive in most people, that it is in scientists)

But not every scientist would actually do what that one was considering. In reality, a scientist probably wouldn't touch the lever again. He'd get one of his grad students to do it.

And the smart grad student ties a nice long, non-conductive nylon rope to the lever. After the first ZAP at least.

Personally I'd be prying the cover off of that in a hurry.