The Factory Floor

In a lot of science fiction, the advanced weaponry takes the form of guns firing directed bursts of plasma. These searing bolts of fire are classic ways to create weapons apparently rooted in science, but still fantastical and mysterious. Is it plausible, given what we know of plasma and how it...

Mourdos

Remember, the matrix doesn't handle individual questions, it handles the overall way of asking. Its so that we can help identify where scope needs to be placed. And in the case of c) Killed

b)

hmm

or d)

Danny Reagan

Does not seem like a b

Mourdos

2:06 PM

START is what we have now (Scientific knowledge), RESULT is plasma weapons. CHANGE is "How do we apply it?"

Danny Reagan

I suppose. "What would cause this?" doesn't seem to include that though. Might want a different way to express it

Mourdos

Its a generalisation of the principles

None of them will fit perfectly for every question of that type

( I have START and RESULT, give me CHANGE ) is the type

"What would cause this?" is a general example

Maybe How do we cause this?

Danny Reagan

@Mourdos That sounds closer to the formula

githubphagocyte

I think START and RESULT fit perfectly in this case. CHANGE could perhaps do with a better word. PROCESS maybe?

Or just CAUSE?

Mourdos

CAUSE!

githubphagocyte

2:09 PM

:)

Mourdos

a) Handling "What happens if I do this?" ( I have START and CAUSE, give me RESULT )
b) Handling "Where did I come from?" ( I have RESULT and CAUSE, give me START )
c) Handling "How would I cause this?" ( I have START and RESULT, give me CAUSE )
d) Handling "What am I asking?" ( I have CAUSE, give me START and RESULT )

The trick to figuring out every category of question is going:
I have _____, and I did _____ to get _____

Tim B

sounds good

githubphagocyte

Minor point: Handle rather than Handel (Handel is a name).

a) Handling ...

Mourdos

Moved c) and d) around

a, b, c are all generally acceptable (a needs very narrow scope)

githubphagocyte

Looking good :)

Mourdos

2:12 PM

d is just wrong format

e) and f) (I have Start, I have Result) are never likely to get asked.

Its possible to get d) simply because people can fail to explain START or RESULT

leaving just a cause

Donald.McLean

@Mourdos Technically, there are 8 possibilities, of which only 3 have one variable and are thus reasonably answerable.

Mourdos

Yes, I ignored the blatantly stupid possibilities of answering your own question and saying "hello". I thought that nobody could possibly require guidance on those.

I have unfounded hope that I will never be proved wrong.

Donald.McLean

@Mourdos Here's where we laugh at you.

githubphagocyte

@Mourdos We may eventually see such questions, but I'm confident that you're right about us not needing guidance on closing them...

overactor

@Mourdos That is looking quite good

Are these meta questions going to be asked soon?

Mourdos

2:25 PM

Handling "What happens if I do this?" ( I have START and CAUSE, give me RESULT )

START is what there was before.
RESULT is what is there afterwards.
CAUSE is the process or change that transitioned between the two. Which can be anything from making an animal bigger, to changing useverse and describing what changes.

This question fits the form: I have a starting point and then did something to it. What happened? Here are some guidelines on how to judge them.

These questions can very easily be "Too Broad". They require focusing on a very specific change of a complex system, or require a ve…

I'm writing them up, then I will post them all.

I'm going to propose them as site policy

I need examples of good and bad questions that fit this form. Including some non obvious.

Specific revisions/edits of a question also work.

Michael Kjörling

@Mourdos Sounds like a plan. I would actually suggest posing the "question" as a question "what should we do with this" and a self-answer saying "this is what we should probably do with questions that fit this pattern".

That allows for alternate answers, voting and ultimately perhaps acceptance, which all contribute to making the policy clear.

Mourdos

I'll change my paragraph to the answer then.

githubphagocyte

@Mourdos So there will be 4 separate meta questions, so each can have a variety of different answers for voting on how to deal with them?

Michael Kjörling

Yes. The "These questions" paragraph should probably go into the answer, the rest would remain in the question.

Mourdos

Yep

Michael Kjörling

2:29 PM

@githubphagocyte That's my idea at least :)

overactor

@MichaelKjörling agreed

Mourdos

What I'd like from you guys, if your willing, is examples. I'll go through each question one by one and pre-write them.

githubphagocyte

@Mourdos What examples do you seek? Examples of each of the 4 types?

Mourdos

Just this one for now.

I think I want to try and aim for three good and three bad if we can.

Danny Reagan

"What is the result of giving all humans the ability of unrestricted personal flight?"

Mourdos

2:31 PM

( Linkable questions :P )

Danny Reagan

Bah

Mourdos

What is really good is a question that was bad and then became good

Michael Kjörling

4

Q: What might today's society look like without (addictive) social media?

What characteristics of society/culture might change if we would not have developed social media? or, if we had developed it, but it was somehow not as addictive as it is... Would this generation's teens be as self-absorbed/narcissistic? Would society be more moral? Teens today are very aware o...

society technology culture communication humans

maybe? (just looking at the questions list)

Mourdos

IS that good or bad :P xD

overactor

26

Q: What should three men and three women do if everyone else is dead?

Recently, I asked what could kill all humans except for those in low orbit. Out of the answers that popped up (which included the Ragnarök), I picked a plague as being the most desirable for my particular needs. Some background A virus, purposely engineered to target and kill humans was (delibe...

society apocalypse

Michael Kjörling

2:32 PM

START is our current society, CAUSE is lack of social media, it seeks to know what happens.

Danny Reagan

25

Q: World of Methuselahs

Suppose that, after puberty, human beings aged about 15 times more slowly than in our world. Some would still die young (by their standards) due to diseases, wars, accidents, etc., but it would be commonplace to live to be 1000. What kind of effect would a long lifespan (but not immortality) ha...

society

Start is normal world, cause is letting all humans live as long as Methuselah

overactor

I don't agree on what you guys are linking

START is not the normal world

Mourdos

It can be

overactor

START is a world where things are somehow different

Mourdos

That is often result

Danny Reagan

2:34 PM

Start and cause, then effect

Seems to fit to me

Mourdos

I think this worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/3246/… is a bad question

Its too broad, someone convince me otherwise?

overactor

@Mourdos I agree actually

githubphagocyte

@overactor currently CAUSE is being used to cover both events that happen within a universe, and changes that are made from our universe.

Danny Reagan

@Mourdos The community seems to disagree with you

Given the sheer number of votes

And four favorites

Michael Kjörling

If you come across what you feel are bad questions, I would suggest voting to close with a currently applicable close reason.

@DannyReagan A question can get lots of votes yet be a poor fit. See hacking the universe.

Danny Reagan

2:37 PM

@MichaelKjörling I wasn't saying I personally thought it was good. Just mentioning that the community thought otherwise

I find it acceptable

overactor

@githubphagocyte I actually suggested that use

githubphagocyte

The same goes for favourites. They just mean people want to see what happens to the question. People have interests other than just worldbuilding, so even a completely off topic question can get favourites

Mourdos

Its going under my "other" with a comment about how it could be broken down.

overactor

not sure if it's useful anymore though

I think these meta questions should focus on in-universe changes

githubphagocyte

@overactor Would we then have a separate meta post for questions that are specifically about having one difference from our universe?

overactor

2:39 PM

questions adapting universes need to be handled differently

Mourdos

Why?

overactor

@githubphagocyte We could

Mourdos

They are generalist rules

githubphagocyte

Is the response to both types different?

Mourdos

What should three men and three women do if everyone else is dead? is not type a)

Its a type c) Give me the Cause

Start is "few resources and small genepool" Result is "survival"

overactor

2:41 PM

@Mourdos It's a bit in between I suppose

Mourdos

Clear C

overactor

@Mourdos I see your point

You are absolutely right

githubphagocyte

This is an example where the categorisation will be obvious to everyone, but which one they obviously think it is will differ, leading to confusion

Mourdos

Good Examples: What might today's society look like without (addictive) social media?. START is our current society, CAUSE is lack of social media. It restricts the scope and asks for specific things to be addressed in the question.

Other Examples: World of Methuselahs. START is Earth, CAUSE is switching to an alternate universe where humans lived longer, it wants to know the result. This question is boardline too broad. The impacts on the longer life of a human are complex and difficult to examine. It would probably have been better broken down into smaller questions focused around each bullet point.

Actually, Actionable: New close reason: Needs breaking down into specific questions.

overactor

I'm still not 100% sure about the out-of-universe changes

githubphagocyte

2:45 PM

8

Q: What would the Universe be like if gravity was slightly stronger?

As the title says, what would the universe be like if the gravitational force was 0.1% stronger but the other forces (strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetic force) stayed the same? Would the universe have formed the same as it is now?

gravity universe

Mourdos

@overactor You need to articulate a reason, not just a feeling

overactor

@githubphagocyte This question becomes entirely different if this is an in-universe or out-of-universe change

Mourdos

The question states "imagine if humans instead"

not "humans suddenly live longer"

thus alternate world/universe/timeline/reality

overactor

@Mourdos Those are entirely distinct questions no?

githubphagocyte

@overactor this one is phrased as out of universe (if gravity had always been stronger), so I thought it might help to get an idea of whether it should be treated separately

Mourdos

2:47 PM

I like the Gravity one, potential to be too broad, but asked for a very specific result

I'll throw in the giant animals one as well

to cover reality-check

overactor

Here's the difference I think:

if the change is out of universe

And you are genuinely asking for the RESULT

only very general answers will be possible

Mourdos

Hmm. Not sure.

worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/3246/… was answerable in fairly good detail

overactor

@Mourdos I think people are actually answering a different question than what was asked

(though that question is heavily implied)

START is proto intelligent humanlike species that lives long

Mourdos

No. Its really not

overactor

CAUSE is they start getting intelligent and form a society

Mourdos

2:53 PM

No

You are missing the point

overactor

RESULT is some close to human like society

Mourdos

Start is not where the people came from

overactor

@Mourdos I know that's not what the question asks

But I do think that's what some are answering

Mourdos

To be blunt: I don't really case about the answers to specific questions that are answering wrong. That isn't what we are talking about, I've very specifically trying to look at questions.

Yes, its a problem, but its not the one I'm currently addressing.

the Start, cause, result framework is for questions, to fit them into a category where common rules can apply for judging quality regarding scope and fit for SE

Now, only being able to apply general answers to out of universe questions is an interesting point.

overactor

And I think out-of-universe change questions make for sufficiently different questions that they can't be judges by the same criteria as in-universe questions

Mourdos

2:58 PM

I want to say "I think they can." But I'm trying to think of / find examples.

overactor

@Mourdos I think type (a) questions with an out-of-universe change are not well asked questions

and should be rephrased

Mourdos

32

Q: How would having multiple moons affect tides?

We know that planets can have multiple moons, sometimes quite a few (like Jupiter). Assuming that a planet with several moons were habitable in the first place and has significant oceans (greater than 50% of the surface), what effect would multiple moons with independent orbits and revolution sp...

planets moons

Alternate Reality where we have multiple moons, how would the tides be different?

overactor

@Mourdos The alternate reality is just a help to set up your START there

you could easily say the question is:

START an earthlike planet with x moons (+ additional info)

Mourdos

START is earth like conditions. CHANGE is "We have two moons, not one" (This is now alternate earth) RESULT is what happens to the tides.

overactor

@Mourdos Can we agree there are two ways to apply the frameworks that are both consistent?

Mourdos

3:02 PM

No.

I start with earthlike conditions, I add another moon. What is the result?

overactor

If you read the question carefully, there's no actual CAUSE

or CHANGE

Mourdos

Okay, so not alternate reality.

overactor

there is just a planet with multiple moons

Mourdos

what effect would multiple moons with independent orbits and revolution speeds have on tides?

what effect would multiple moons with independent orbits and revolution speeds have on tides compared to a planet with just one moon?

Otherwise, it is not a question

overactor

@Mourdos do't really agree.

Mourdos

3:06 PM

You are free to disagree.

@githubphagocyte @MichaelKjörling Thoughts?

overactor

What sort of tides would you expect on a planet with multiple moons with independent orbits ...?

Same question, different phrasing

Mourdos

Based on what comparison?

overactor

Now here's how this question would get into real alternative reality territory:

@Mourdos Tides are not a relative phenomenom

they can be described absolutely

what effect would multiple moons with independent orbits and revolution speeds have on human society?

Mourdos

In that case. Start: No tides, Change: We add two moons. Result: What is the result?

Still fits clearly into a)

And that proposed question would be too broad

overactor

@Mourdos yes

what does your matrix suggest we do about the question?

Mourdos

3:09 PM

Which question? Your one, or the original?

overactor

mine

the one with human society

Mourdos

Suggest that it will probably be too broad and or receive a very general answer, and that it might be better broken up into asking about the impact on specific aspects of society

githubphagocyte

@Mourdos @overactor I can relate to both sides so this clearly needs some further discussion. It seems out of universe changes are being discussed, but it's not clear what that covers. Physical changes to our universe (extra moons) are probably found elsewhere in this universe, whereas changes to physical laws such as gravity are probably not. Do both require discussion separately?

overactor

@Mourdos I think that's inappropriate

Here's what I would suggest

Try and work back the history of the world you're trying to figure out/get to

until you get to a point where you feel confident things could actually get to that point

then see where you want to go

Mourdos

So you would tell them to answer their own question before they post their question?

overactor

3:14 PM

And ask a I have START and sort of have RESULT, give me CAUSE (and fill in RESULT)

Mourdos

So ask your new question, based on your guidelines.

Hey there @MikeNichols

and everyone else

@githubphagocyte @overactor I think the question is looking for a result. What does this look like? Its not asking for a change. Therefore it is a question that has a difficult to quantify start and change, but it definitely wants a result.

I've been looking at it too big picture

Start is two moons. Cause: Gravitational pull of the moons, result is tides

and it wants them described!

overactor

3:38 PM

@Mourdos Based on what question?

The one I asked?

Mourdos

Yes, apply your guidelines to the one you asked me to about the impacto n human society

overactor

depending on how much handwaving the asker does or how good his worldbuilding skills are he might arrive at

I have a race of proto-intelligent ape like creatures on a planet with moons like this (explanation) I want them and their civilization to evolve to the following point: (similar to humans in the following aspects)

give me the CAUSE and help me fill in the other aspects

You might need to ask several such questions to get to the point you want to reach

g1g for a while

Mourdos

That is no longer the question that was asked and isn't how we work.

We ask people to narrow scope, not to throw the question away like that.

Especially when the question is on topic.

Their question is how multiple moons might change the human society. Telling them to ask about how to achieve a specific change in society (and just noting that there are two moos) are entirely different thing.

githubphagocyte

Building an alternative world doesn't usually mean building it from scratch and being completely realistic. Often a world builder wants a world that is believable, rather than rigorously simulated. So if they want to model human evolution from scratch with the extra moon, they can ask that, but it's also on topic to ask how normal humans would find life on a planet with two moons.

Mourdos

3:54 PM

Yep. Though any question that says "What would be the impact on human society if X" is normally a decent candidate for Too Broad.

githubphagocyte

I love the idea of rigorous simulation, but this isn't the site where I expect to find it

2

Mourdos

I pushed my Deadpool comment off the favorite list :-(

[sadness]

Mwhuhuh

OKAY!

Handling "What happens if I do this?" ( I have START and CAUSE, give me RESULT )

START is what there was before.
RESULT is what is there afterwards.
CAUSE is the process or change that transitioned between the two. Which can be anything from making an animal bigger, to changing useverse and describing what changes.

This question fits the following form. I have starting point START and then did CAUSE to it, what happened. How do we judge them?

See also:
Handling "Where did I come from?" ( I have RESULT and CAUSE, give me START )

Wow. scrollbar

githubphagocyte

useverse?

Mourdos

Wrote in notepad, haven't spellchecked yet.

githubphagocyte

Off out now. Good work :)

Mourdos

4:00 PM

Is the analysis of the questions any good? Also, cya.

githubphagocyte

Getting better and better. Remember you'll still be able to edit if anyone has a suggestion after it's posted.

Tim B

Yep, it seems good after a proof reading

Mourdos

I'll work on the other three when I get home

Mourdos

4:27 PM

Precision destruction got onto Hot Questions.

Tim B

and you didn't even name it "how to destroy stack exchange?"

Danny Reagan

Heh

Mourdos

I might edit the title.

Done

Tim B

4:47 PM

Although I might have to close it as off topic, it's not really about building worlds :p

seems more like a plot point

Fulli

i am away for one week and the side´s questions per day drop on half...

Tim B

i can see some stats on the mod tools actually

Fulli

and it is so or not ?

Tim B

it's not that bad

Fulli

btw - grats on beeing mod !

did monico made it also?

Tim B

4:53 PM

yeah. Me, Monica and Michael

Fulli

michael`?

the one with the spider?

Tim B

23

Q: Moderators Pro Tempore IN SPAAAAACE!

Throughout the beta, we need members from the site whose focus is to engage the community, both in community-building issues and site management. That's why we select a few members from each community to act as temporary, provisional Moderators. You can read about the program here: Moderators Pro...

discussion featured moderators

Monica Cellio

Wow, lots of good discussion in here today. Glad to see it!

Fulli

found it

do we need another "kill all humans" question?

Tim B

we've been consistently 4 or 5 questions per day since the start

there was a spike in first 3 or 4 days

with 16, 9, 8 questions asked

weekends are much quieter on every stat too

Fulli

4:56 PM

oh ok than i just didnt see the "okay" on the area 51 page

Monica Cellio

Let me throw out an opinion that I think is consistent with consensus in here, just to check: a question asking about the effects of something on a world involves three main parts: the starting state (what this world is like without that change), the change itself, and the resultant state. A question must specify two of: start, change, end.

Fulli

new guidelines?

Monica Cellio

"Start" can be "Earth" or something else, but it has to already have some foundation -- it has to be real enough that we can talk about it. "I have a planet" isn't enough.

Tim B

@MonicaCellio I've not been following in detail but that's the gist I got too

@Fulli Overactor has the first 2 gold badges - he has 2 questions with over 10k views now

Mourdos

Moment

A is a start point, B is the end point. X is the process or change. Note that just having scope doesn't mean that the scope isn't too large. To narrow scope give more information or ask for less, as appropriate.

a) I have A and X, give me B (cool, *requires* narrow scope on B)
b) I have B and X, give me A (cool, scope is normally always implied by describing the outcome)
c) I have X, give me A and B (Too broad, scope is by defintion undefined) (See hack the universe pre edits)
d) I have A and B, give me X (requies some kind of scope (often on X) and is normally always implicit on the other)

@MonicaCellio And Yes.

Monica Cellio

4:59 PM

I saw that folks brought up my multiple-moons question. In that question I described properties of the world and then asked how tides would work. That's not exactly start/change/end in that I'm not trying to change a world (add moons), but I can see how y'all are classifying it that way. Do people think the question isn't well-enough asked?

Mourdos

I actually figured that out

Start: Two moons, Change: Gravitation pull. Result: ? Scoped to tides.

Kind of.

Monica Cellio

(Meeting -- back in a bit.)

Mourdos

It was a test of the framework I came up with

Anyway. I'll be back in 1/2 to 3/4 an hour

githubphagocyte

5:14 PM

@MonicaCellio Your question was an example of the pattern - there's nothing wrong with the question. We have questions that change a fundamental physical law (like gravity), questions that ask about a world where something physical is different from ours (like two moons) and questions asking for a change to occur in the timeline of that world, rather than always being different. The question is whether treating those 3 different question types within the same guidelines is practical.

I think the trouble with trying to fit too many things into the same pattern is that it becomes less clear which pattern a given question fits into, resulting in disagreement on which guideline should apply.

We're always going to need new meta questions for things that don't appear to fit into the guidelines, but I'm still very much in favour of trying to settle on new guidelines anyway. Just because they don't cover every possible case doesn't take away from the fact that they can save us a lot of confusion for a lot of questions.

Monica Cellio

5:31 PM

@githubphagocyte ok thanks.

githubphagocyte

@MonicaCellio P.S. that question got my upvote at the time :)

Monica Cellio

The formulation about START, CHANGE, END (or A, X, B) describes questions where you want to change something ("what if Earth had two moons"), but you can also think of it as starting state, property, and altered state -- it's not so much that we're changing a world, but there is some aspect of the world whose impact is unknown, hence the question.

overactor

@Mourdos My thinking is that approaching the question the way I suggest will help the asker define how much handwaving they are willing to do.

Monica Cellio

That could be: I have a world with two moons (and other details about the world); how do tides work? Or it could be: I have a world (again, specified) and I want the tides to behave like this (details); how do I do that (e.g. how many moons, at what distance, at what orbital period, etc etc). Those are examples of A+X (what's B?) and A+B (what's X?). Those both seem workable.

@githubphagocyte thanks.

overactor

If they want to handwave a lot, fine tell us how far you get with your handwaving and where you want to be more precise

if you don't get far that actually shows you that you have some more questions that need answering before you'll ever get where you want to get.

Otherwise the question will be too broad

It forces you to think about your question and helps you identify possible problems

and helps you define a certain scope

and shows what exactly you're interested in

and what not

Monica Cellio

5:38 PM

By the way, is somebody working on a meta post about all this? 'Cause chat, particularly a transcript day with 1000 messages, isn't for the permanent record. :-)

Danny Reagan

@MonicaCellio Mourdos is on it

Mourdos

6:04 PM

I am, yes.

Hey @Shokhet

Shokhet

@Mourdos Hi!

Mourdos

Ack, the beep from chat is loud :P

Shokhet

(My computer's on silent for a reason :P)

Wanted you guys' opinion on this:

@randal'thor What makes you think that societal structure does *not* have to do with building a world? — Shokhet 1 min ago

(see preceding comment)

I never thought that the on-topicness of societal structure questions was even questionable

Mourdos

It is on topic. But it often suffers from being overly broad, so you have to be careful.

Give me a second

also, can you link me to the comment?

Shokhet

I thought I limited it to a few specific questions.....

@Mourdos Click the timestamp

Mourdos

6:14 PM

Replied with a link

Shokhet

@Mourdos Nice! Thanks :)

(sorry for the ping sound, that was by reflex :P)

Mourdos

Heh

I'll turn it off.

While you are here :-)

Can I get your opinion on the following:

1 hour ago, by Mourdos

A is a start point, B is the end point. X is the process or change. Note that just having scope doesn't mean that the scope isn't too large. To narrow scope give more information or ask for less, as appropriate.

a) I have A and X, give me B (cool, *requires* narrow scope on B)
b) I have B and X, give me A (cool, scope is normally always implied by describing the outcome)
c) I have X, give me A and B (Too broad, scope is by defintion undefined) (See hack the universe pre edits)
d) I have A and B, give me X (requies some kind of scope (often on X) and is normally always implicit on the other)

( post is a bit longer than that :P )

Shokhet

There's more than 4 points??

:)

Mourdos

I apparently have more question types to fit in :-/

Shokhet

I don't understand what you mean in the parentheses in d

@Mourdos Well, "I have X, give me EVERYTHING" is definitely way too broad ;)

Mourdos

6:23 PM

I know. My example is the Hacking question, (on the assumption that "attack vector" was asking for examples rather than methodology. )

I'm not sure what bugs in the universe falls under

Shokhet

I know those questions were under discussion, I didn't do much more than skim them....reading the (current version of?) hacking question now

Mourdos

I'm mostly active on meta :-)

and chat.

Shokhet

First version was very wide "I want to do this, give me ideas!"

Reading "Clarifications" now......

Mourdos

Heh. Clarifications solve nothing.

Shokhet

I just found that out for myself :)

way too broad

Mourdos

6:28 PM

Its START is undefined (sandbox universe is not defined) and its RESULT is not defined ("do stuff in the universe"), CAUSE is what it wants and that is an ideas generation

Shokhet

In your terms -- he gave you X, and is asking for A and B?

Mourdos

Yes

Shokhet

I agree, that is an idea generation question

Mourdos

which is a "VTC with extreme prejudice"

Shokhet

?

Is that a quote from someone?

Mourdos

6:30 PM

I think it might have been me or Michael.

Or someone from earlier.

I forget.

Shokhet

Hm.

I agree that question should be closed until edited.

Finding the bug question

Oh, that was it, misunderstood :)

Mourdos

http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/3129/hacking-the-universe
and
http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/3136/if-our-universe-was-a-simulation-what-could-a-bug-look-like

Shokhet

*reading*

tip for you: if you paste the link by itself into chat, the question will "onebox"

Like so:

25

Q: If our universe was a simulation, what could a bug look like?

Let's assume, without revoking any of today's science, that the world is a simulation. What would a bug look like? I'm assuming that "the eiffel tower suddenly being bent at 45°" is rather unlikely, the same way you don't see a bunch of clowns appearing in the middle of a game of need for speed...

science-based physics computers

I think the bug question is another "give me ideas" question....even though we have A and X

But that's just my feeling

"A" in that question is "the world as we know it," "X" is "bug in the simulation,"

......actually, B and X are *both* fuzzy.....I think that's what's bothering me about that question

Mourdos

I know that, I was tryingto avoid it

Heh. The "you need at least two of A, B and X" tends to work

2

Shokhet

Agreed.

Did you write that up on Meta yet? .....ping me with a link if/when you do, I'll definitely upvote :)

Mourdos

6:43 PM

I'm trying to get all four of them done before I do

I also need to write up one for questions that don' actually need two.

Where you aren't changing something

" What effect would two moons have on the tides? "

We struggled to fit it in the framework

so I need a e)

Shokhet

One moment

The two moons question, I think, is fine......you have A (science as we know it), you have X (two moons instead of one), and you're asking for B

And I think your D is fine....

......I have a world that looks like this right now, that I want to look different in a given amount of time, what might do that for me?

Mourdos

we switched d) and c) at some point :P

Shokhet

C is too broad, you only have one (X)

Mourdos

Yep

C is hack the universe :o

Shokhet

Yup.

Mourdos

6:50 PM

Old version

:P

Shokhet

Why do you think you need an E ?

Mourdos

Two moons.... seee

Shokhet

Two moons:

4 mins ago, by Shokhet

The two moons question, I think, is fine......you have A (science as we know it), you have X (two moons instead of one), and you're asking for B

Is this the one you're talking about?

32

Q: How would having multiple moons affect tides?

We know that planets can have multiple moons, sometimes quite a few (like Jupiter). Assuming that a planet with several moons were habitable in the first place and has significant oceans (greater than 50% of the surface), what effect would multiple moons with independent orbits and revolution sp...

planets moons

Mourdos

read from about here chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/18403596#18403596

docs.google.com/document/d/…

Shokhet

GTG now, be back later

Transcript for