4.6 KiB
[RT][HF] The Maker's Ark, Chapter 34: Learning
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Author: u/DocFuture *
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URL: http://docfuture.tumblr.com/post/156940822466/the-makers-ark-chapter-34
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Score: 17
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Created: 2017-02-07T18:35:44
Post:
Comments:
u/DocFuture [+5] (a minute later)
This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has ever learned something the hard way in the lab.
A full explanation of what happened will be in the next chapter--it doesn't involve any new physics, just a few minor tweaks to stuff that is already understood.
u/thrawnca [+3] Carbon-based biped (14 minutes later)
Sometimes, the bucket of sand just doesn't cut it...
u/SvalbardCaretaker [+3] Mouse Army (57 minutes later)
Learning has occured!
u/DocFuture [+2] (an hour later)
Indeed! And we get to see why Learning (the ship) is so handy to have around--as well as why he is such a headache for his nominal superiors. He's an electronic warfare ship AI--being a trickster is part of his job.
u/Trudar [+1] (a day later)
Oh no, not the god?
I wonder how much of Grs'thnk's pantheon, if they have any, will leak to Earth...?
u/DocFuture [+1] (a day later)
Small-t trickster is a personality trait and handy descriptor rather than anything mythological. And here is a bit from chapter 24 to think about:
Every theory used by the Grs'thnk portal explorers had been wrong. They'd wondered why so few of their probes had come back. Doc wondered why any of them had. The odds were trillions to one or worse against it happening by chance.
The only people who ever managed new portals on Earth were magicians, who could cheat the odds. And Golden Valkyrie, who could see what future would result, if she opened a particular portal--and only open it if she approved. Which was another way to cheat.
Doc snorted to himself. Maybe all the old Grs'thnk portal explorers had been magicians; they were notorious enough for being unstable and drifting off into mysticism that it was a Grs'thnk cliche, like the 'absent minded scientist' was for humans.
u/Trudar [+1] (a day later)
So they have some mysticism, but nothing we know so far, if they have, or had, any gods.
I saw 'trickster' and alarm went off in my head - I know it wasn't with capital letter, but one thing may lead to another... and I have him characterized in my head as a meticulous and dependable personality, but with good sense of intelligent humor, saying he's a trickster looked to me as a little stretch. But English is my second language, some subtleties may be lost on me :(
u/DocFuture [+3] (an hour later)
Yeah, Flicker would have insisted on moving the tests back to a planet as soon as they were sure they wouldn't blow it up, except the portal needed to be in both vacuum and freefall.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+1] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (2 days later)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2008/02/26/sand_wont_save_you_this_time
u/DocFuture [+1] (2 days later)
8-) I've long been a fan of Derek Lowe and the 'Things I won't work with' category of his blog in particular. Anyone who wants to put scientific explanation in their stories would do well to pay attention to how he writes. One of my favorite bits is still from a post on using animal testing when you really don't understand the underlying biology of a drug mechanism you want to try:
"If you give it to a rat and he goes off and flops down, is that because he’s dizzy, because his legs don’t feel right, because he feels sick to his stomach, because he’s suddenly sleepy, or because he’s overcome with waves of rodent ennui? You can untangle some of those, but it isn’t easy."
u/CreationBlues [+1] (2 days later)
What I wonder is why she went from the tip of her finger for a few milliseconds to her whole hand for several seconds. I feel she kinda missed some steps there?
u/DocFuture [+1] (3 days later)
Ideally, yes. Flicker is good at patient experimentation at her speed--but not at human speeds. She loses patience when incrementalism isn't yielding new data and jumps scope. This can work well, but has also gotten her in trouble before. Watching her father skip steps in emergencies and still get results led to some 'do as I say, not as I do' arguments when she was growing up. It's probably her worst flaw as an experimentalist.