Re: [TML]ChemistryQuestion
Phil Pugliese 11 May 2014 15:57 UTC
Subject: Re: [TML]ChemistryQuestion
To: xxxxxx@simplelists.com, "Tim" <xxxxxx@little-possums.net>
Date: Saturday, May 10, 2014, 11:22 PM
On Sun, May 11, 2014 at
12:40 AM, Tim <xxxxxx@little-possums.net>
wrote:
Human societies could in theory
self-select to this extent, but I
would not expect them to do so. Failing direct genetic
engineering,
it would likely involve selecting for their children to have
ever more
extreme variations, killing or casting out those that are
too normal
to the original type.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
on Sat, 5/10/14, Richard Aiken <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
Several
historical societies - the Spartans and Vikings spring
immediately to mind - killed those who were born too
different. It's not that hard for me to imagine a
society that would do so for those not born different
*enough,* particularly if the society was trying to match
some sort of non-human ideal. For example, a bunch of early
humans left behind by Grandfather's departed
humanoid-form robots, who are seeking to match the forms of
those legendary "angelic" caretakers.
However, what's hard
for me to imagine is such a society lasting long enough to
actually effect significant genetic change. Even the Vilani
only go back a couple of thousand generations or so.
Richard Aiken
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Gee, I thought it was a lot longer than that.
Didn't the 'Ancient's War' end (TU time) about 100,000 years ago?
And the Ancients had been 'experimenting' w/ humans for a long time before that, weren't they?
"Taken from earth about 250,000 years ago" comes to mind but I don't recall where I got it from...