The Factory Floor - 2017-06-22

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12:37 AM

https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/83340/could-humans-colonize-this-planet
I don't know how to answer all the question, I only know about the atmosphere and maybe another thing, ¿Can I post an answer?

12:58 AM

What happen if I edit a comunity wiki like this? I think that I have useful information to improve it.

1:08 AM

@EnderLook if a question has multiple questions, don't answer; instead flag it as too broad. worldbuilding.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4968/…

@EnderLook in this case (looking at the post) it's not asking more than one question. You're saying that you know how to consider only part of the information. So, if any one item makes the planet unsuitable, then you can answer “no” even without knowing about the other items.

@JDługosz I only know about atmosphere and yes, it's perfect for human life. Shall I make an answer explaining that afirmation?

@EnderLook nothing special happens. Might follow up with a note here in chat so @a4android can go over it and fix the spelling.

@EnderLook no, because some other aspect might be unsuitable. A comment would be better.

@JDługosz Perfect, I have already done that.

@JDługosz Ok, later (maybe tomorrow) I will improve it.

Remember it's “hard science”. So you need citations and calculations, not just simple statements about what you know.

1:24 AM

@Bellerophon bummer. Was it something we (the blog team) did? We like hearing from people. :-)

@EnderLook Universe Factory is the name of our blog. It's also the name of a chat room here on Worldbuilding for blog-related stuff (like planning posts).

@JDługosz I know

5 hours later…

6:06 AM

@JDługosz So should I expect to report for spell checking duty anytime soon?

@a4android Depends on which shift you have ;)

6:36 AM

@Secespitus I should warn you I can be a pretty shifty character if the mood takes me. :)

Time has come to move on, gang, catch ya soon enough.

2 hours later…

8:13 AM

@MonicaCellio No, I just decided it wasn't as good as I'd like it to be.

5 hours later…

1:01 PM

@Bellerophon "Perfect" is the enemy of "good" :)

@EnderLook Perhaps create a community wiki answer covering the atmosphere part and leave blank sections for people to fill in the other parts? By doing that you're acknowledging that it's a partial answer

Hello fellow humans & @TimB

o/

he's not a real human, he's an imposter

1:27 PM

\o

\& . <- mind flayer high-five

heh :)

how's things?

startup life, last 10 months feel like 10 years

2:08 PM

Well at least it's keeping you busy :)

2:23 PM

@SerbanTanasa I like it

2 hours later…

4:50 PM

I spent the morning fighting tree roots. I think I lost.

5:14 PM

off-topic SFF question that might almost be in-scope here

@HDE226868 fight the leaves instead. They're much easier.

@DaaaahWhoosh A bit short, but other than that you might be right

@Secespitus are you running a script or something? As soon as a new user posts anything you've already gotten to them :D

@dot_Sp0T I will edit everything on this site! Everything!!

@DaaaahWhoosh Maybe I will. I shall set a trap at once.

@DaaaahWhoosh Almost.

5:35 PM

@HDE226868 ah. In that case, I feel no shame in my VTC

@Secespitus do your magic on that one :) worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/84274/…

2 hours later…

7:42 PM

@James It's a sequel to the book John Dies at the End. One of the quotes on the front cover is "What the hell did I just read?"which is coincidentally the title of the third book which comes out in October. There is also a movie based on John Dies at the End that you can watch on Netflix. It's a bit different than the book, but pretty close.

@AndyD273 that title reminds me of a book called The Book with no Name

@dot_Sp0T Hmm... not sure how good it is if the print version is going for $.89

@AndyD273 I enjoyed reading it and the follow ups; I remember them being fun to read. Not overly deep or anything like that though. Just. Fun to read.

@dot_Sp0T That's good then. being fun is a pretty important part of a story.

@AndyD273 there's plenty of books I tried that just weren't fun. Have you read Catch-22 ?

8:03 PM

@dot_Sp0T Not yet, but it's now on my list

Right now watching Wall-e - and that movie throws up so many bloody questions

Great film.

speaking of bloody questions, the Steam Summer Sale is happening now

the majority of items on my wishlist are now at least 50% off

Buy it all.

I guess I'm never going to get to go back to reading, eh?

nothing but video games for the rest of my life

8:14 PM

@DaaaahWhoosh you know that sale happens about 4-5 times every year?

@DaaaahWhoosh And some day before it ends I hope the servers will stay up long enough for me to be able to log in

@AndyD273 you just have to access it around Chinese later afternoon

Anyone know of a good resource that allows you to view congressional votes for 2017 by rep/senator?

@Green ^

8:41 PM

@James I know they're out there but I don't have a favorite off the top of my head. We would both be googling it.

8:54 PM

Why do these solar-powered robots rest at night instead of during the day when they could recharge in a powered down state?

I thought they only rested during sandstorms

@dot_Sp0T because headlights take up more battery power, and so the same amount of juice will go further. Plus the solar cells will deliver the same amount of power whether the robot is moving or powered down, so long as it doesn't drive through shadows.

Just my guess...

@AndyD273 why would they need headlights? Their 'eyes' could be designed to work without needing light; also no, there is a scene actively showing the need to fold out a solar panel and stay in the sun while not moving

Also why would anyone build a ship, that deploys surface drones, that needs to land to deploy a single drone - that then takes off again?!

9:15 PM

@dot_Sp0T obviously that world is one where there is a lot of waste. Hence the mountains of trash

@DaaaahWhoosh still, why land instead of having a single-use lander enclosing the drone?

because... rule of cool?

@DaaaahWhoosh suspension of disbelief...

I mean, there is the fact that it's nice to have a ship to take you into orbit. But if it leaves, then comes back, then leaves again, obviously getting to orbit isn't so hard

Sorry, when farm field crops die for water "starvation" or plagues. ¿Is it called Drought ?

9:19 PM

@EnderLook drought is when there is no water, it is the cause of crops dying but it's not what it's called when crops die

@DaaaahWhoosh But can I say something like: "There was drought in the crops fields"?

@Green I figured if anyone on here already had an answer for that it would be you...

@EnderLook it doesn't work like that. I know what you're asking for, but I don't actually think there's a word for it

@DaaaahWhoosh mmm, I think that I understand, but which word can I use instead of drought?

@DaaaahWhoosh I mean it's up for discussion if you include a stage able to reachieve orbit in your lander. Considering that a drone might not find anything before it gets destroyed/powers-down it would be economically speaking wiser to just build a lander and send another unit to retrieve the drone in case of results. STILL that doesn't justify landing only to drop off a single drone

9:23 PM

@EnderLook I don't know if there is a word for it. But I'm not a farmer. I guess if you said "there was drought in the fields" people would know what you meant, but it wouldn't sound normal.

@DaaaahWhoosh Ok thanks.

@dot_Sp0T I think it's a matter of what is valued. Say fuel is effectively infinite, but ships are scarce.

@DaaaahWhoosh The drone is already deployed in a throw-away shell - so why not add a heatshield & suspensors. Ships being scarce would be another argument against landing without any good reason

eh, the only other option I can think of is that the ship is being repurposed ineffectively

@DaaaahWhoosh the ship that landed is apparently even built for exactly that purpose

9:28 PM

ooh, or maybe it's part of a plot to re-pollute the Earth

chemtrails and all that

@DaaaahWhoosh that's an argument I can rally behind!

conspiracies make the best explanations

Another thing really bothering me is the extensive use of touch-interfaces instead of serial interfaces

yeah, especially since everything was being produced by the same company.

sometimes I wish the world was run by a single mega-corporation. I feel like it would make it easier to connect to printers.

Exactly! I mean there's an argument for the communication between Wall-e and Eve using voice/gestures. But that's only because it can reasonably be assumed that the Eve technology is newer than the Wall-E technology

Although then again. Even though there's only ONE Axiom flagship. There's no sane argument for there being only one ship that is sending out drones. I mean the Axiom could be destroyed at any time by a rogue Moon....

Oh it's getting worse and worse

WHY DO ESCAPE PODS HAVE SELF-DESTRUCT?

And with that: WHY DO THESE DRONES HAVE WEAPONRY?

9:39 PM

the escape pods are used for space Viking funerals

I've just published it. I said it because someone (I don't remember who) said that I shall post my answers in the chat in order to` this someone` could check it grammar.

@dot_Sp0T Maybe not all humans were allowed to leave and they worried some might attack the drones.

@dot_Sp0T it's not weaponry, it's just a sophisticated lockpicking device

@Bellerophon considering the purpose of the drones being to evaluate whether there's anything alive on the planet > why include weaponry and directives to destroy anything before even scanning it?

It would make sense to have something akin to very effective tasers or some gun shooting morphine darts

@dot_Sp0T but how do you open locked doors?

9:44 PM

@DaaaahWhoosh with a laser cutter like the one built into the Wall-E units?

hmm. Yeah, I guess I'm just going to go back to my conspiracy theory

@DaaaahWhoosh we could conspirate together if you'd like to (And yes I know it's conspire and not conspirate. But conspirate contains the word pirate and pirates are cool!)

@DaaaahWhoosh also there's no argument for conservation of resources as they seem to be shooting compacted trash out the airlock instead of recycling

@EnderLook I checked your grammar.

@dot_Sp0T The gun might be for removing large blockages, rubbish, doors and so on.

10:00 PM

@Bellerophon the robot can fly

@James I'm flattered you think I'd have that answer. Thanks!

Oh dear god it's getting even better: Apparently they have FTL technology. So only Scott knows why they haven't looked for other arable planets instead

still trying to understand what really goes on in this chat/SE

@Bellerophon Thanks! Why you change another to other? Aren't they the same?

@Avantgarde I too...

@EnderLook At least I'm not alone

10:09 PM

@EnderLook in general two different words are never exactly the same.

@Avantgarde chat: Anything you wanna tallk about, really. If you've got something regarding the site though it takes priority.

@dot_Sp0T Right, okay. Thanks :)

@Avantgarde you're welcome :) Looking forward to see more of you on this SE

@dot_Sp0T Thanks! Just always confused what to exactly talk about in worldbuilding. Being from a physics background, it's hard for me to imagine things without thinking along the lines of 'hey, but that's not gonna work in reality' :P

@Avantgarde oh Worldbuilding isn't always about defying physics. Also there's plenty of stuff 'reality' does a poor job at explaining, not?

@dot_Sp0T I did find a couple of questions on here quite interesting. Imagining things within the limits of possibility is a fun task. Do you have anything in mind where reality is not enough?

10:17 PM

@Avantgarde this thing to bring up something rather recent

@dot_Sp0T Hm, I've never seen that before. I'm reading that up..

@Avantgarde apparently the Chinese are testing some version of it in space as of late 2016.

Mithrandir24601

@dot_Sp0T I never heard about the Chinese testing that (although that doesn't really say anything), but they have put a satellite up to perform long distance quantum experiments (and, depending on what's on the satellite, they might also be able to test a certain model of quantum gravity called the event formalism :) )

@dot_Sp0T Very interesting

Hey @Mithrandir24601 :)

hey there @Mithrandir24601

how're things going?

10:26 PM

@Mithrandir24601 that's the beauty of wikipedia, helps you find sources to do the reading yourself: ibtimes.co.uk/…

Mithrandir24601

@dot_Sp0T Ah, so it looks like the EM-drive is part of the same satellite then

@Mithrandir24601 I admit I didn't read the article, just skimmed it to find the word Chinese

:P

I'm a lazy git and I'm all right with it (just doing that for you @JDługosz, just for you)

Mithrandir24601

Rytsas @Avantgarde and @Shalvenay - I've finally got the essay handed in - 'only' took 2 weeks... Will be on holiday next week, then back to summer project and thinking about who I want as a supervisor/what projects I'm interested in :)

10:34 PM

How'd they beat conservation of momentum though

@Mithrandir24601 nice.

Mithrandir24601

@dot_Sp0T Well, I skimmed the article until I found the name of the satellite, so, not much different really :P

@Mithrandir24601 Have a good vacation and good luck for your project!

@Avantgarde I assumed that to be what they want to find out - I mean it could all just be a floating-point-error and thus confirm the simulation theory

Mithrandir24601

@Avantgarde Thanks! I'm just going home to relax :) (and read some papers, 'cause I probably should do that)

10:37 PM

@dot_Sp0T Simulation theory? What is that?

@Mithrandir24601 We always have to keep reading papers. :P :D

Simulation hypothesis

The simulation hypothesis proposes that reality is in fact a simulation (most likely a computer simulation). Some versions rely on the development of a simulated reality, a proposed technology that would seem realistic enough to convince its inhabitants. The hypothesis has been a central plot device of many science fiction stories and films. == Origins == There is a long philosophical and scientific history to the underlying thesis that reality is an illusion. This skeptical hypothesis can be traced back to antiquity; for example, to the "Butterfly Dream" of Zhuangzi, or the Indian philosophy of...

Basically the assumption that we live in a simulated reality. There seems to be so much unnecessary knowledge inside my head.

@dot_Sp0T Ah thank you! I knew about the idea, but didn't know the name.

lol

A question that often stops me in my mental path is 'why does this work?'. We worked out many equations. But why? And why only that equation? Who/what decides which equations govern everything?

Based on that idea, I have to say that The Matrix is one of my fav movies. Absolutely loved the concept

@Avantgarde it's sort of an ongoing process, isn't it? Look at something happening, describe it in an equation, refine it by finding & adjusting for corner-cases

@dot_Sp0T Precisely. That is exactly how science is done.

In many cases though, the first two events get interchanged: find the equations first, then observe the phenomenon later. For example: many experimental observations in particle physics (like the recently famous Higgs boson), quasars, black holes, etc

10:52 PM

@Avantgarde which is kind of amazing, but on the other hand sort of scary. I mean that's what got me to drop electrical engineering - it's mostly theory bashing, not much doing anymore :/

@dot_Sp0T Haha. I did some engineering and did not like it because it was not much theory for my taste :P I think then that pure mathematics would be an abyss for you

That's ok though. We all have different personalities. It seems you're more into proactive involvement in whatever tasks you do

hands-on stuff

Haha funny to hear. It's not that I don't like theory. It's more that, as you say indeed, I enjoy actually applying it. Seeing it work, finding the kinks and issues in something.

@dot_Sp0T Yeah, I get what you mean.

When I was a kid, I used to break toys and various other things, assemble the parts and make something of my own. And when everything fit together and worked, it gave me one of the greatest joys of that time. On the other hand, actually studying about the electric motor was quite boring :P

Interestingly enough I read books on car engines and such things. I also built stuff, mostly with Legos - but I never enjoyed taking stuff apart^^

haha. LEGO is very cool. One of the best

11:05 PM

Looking at what I enjoyed doing, and what I now know I don't enjoy - I might actually be a sucker for designing things.... Let's see how I can integrate that into my bachelor's studies

It's just that, when an RC car was working, I just had to know what was inside of it.

@Avantgarde oh I know that feeling. I never dared taking these apart because these things were so expensive and I was just super-happy to have gotten one^^

haha, I correctly guessed why you didn't break them apart :D

It's always nice to explore things that we think we might like. It's only when we actually pursue them do we realize if we can actually keep up with it. So yeah, have fun designing

Guess I fit some profile then

But well, now I enjoy taking stuff apart way too much

like what? When fixing your car?

11:11 PM

More like fixing computers and other electrical devices. Don't have a car, but now I'm intrigued to get an old one and replace the internal wiring

Wish you were here. You could've fixed my computer :P

I don't pursue that 'hobby' of mine anymore. It was a long time ago. The last time I did that was around a decade ago

Doing a lot of theory can be disorienting lol, as in my case.

At times you don't feel connected to the 'real' world

Well it's sort of a necessity for most practical work though nowadays... I mean I've been spending my off-time the last few days reading up OpenGL programmable 3.+ stuff

Nice. It is, for many jobs. Some more than others.

Mithrandir24601

11:29 PM

@Avantgarde In my undergrad, the physics department had an amazing little model of the LHC (and a couple of other physics things) built from lego :)

@Mithrandir24601 :') Beautiful!

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Jun '1722

The Factory Floor

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