Activity for Amadeus‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Answer	—	A: Sand grains in space - a threat? You are incorrect. There is no "terminal velocity", that is a term used with air resistance (or it can apply to fluid resistance) when the amount of acceleration (due to gravity) is matched by the resistance of the medium through which something is falling; like air. Pointed objects like arrows will... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Seeking correction/logic for map outline If the dark green is supposed to be forested area, it seem unusual to me to have a desert border it so tightly in the lower left quadrant. In my experience, desert transitions to mountain or rock, or to a gradual progression of scrub, to grass, to trees. This is typically due to the influence of som... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Would a galaxy-wide civilization have any reason to build a solar probe? I upvote some of the above. One answer not mentioned: ensuring there is nothing wrong with the star. I presume a galaxy spanning civilization knows a great deal more about stars and how they work than we humans know now; so perhaps internal probes would help them decide on th exact makeup and "healt... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Rapid healing and its impact on gender transition +1 to AngelPray comment. OTOH, if as specified it is just a sped up version of the normal healing process; then things like amputation and other surgical changes will still work, the doctors just need to work more quickly. Or gender change may be even easier to get done because the surgeon can make p... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Question about the possibility of a Ternary planet system Yes. But it might not be satisfying... In particular, you can have two co-planets orbit each other (by all rights the Earth Moon system should be considered co-planets; the Moon is larger than most moons in our solar system. But Saturn Titan is even a better candidate: Titan is 3200 miles in diamete... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: What Factors would Likely Govern the Degree of Similarity between Intelligent Aliens and Humans? Like Humans Are: I'd expect them to be rather weak and inept in the wild, former prey for bigger, stronger, more vicious animals, big brained that gained their dominant status through better insight, building protections, planning (like hunting, farming) and invention. They don't need opposable thum... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Do rats have the potential to become sentient? Mice may already be "sentient", meaning self-aware and reasonably intelligent. They show Empathy. Here is more info on the sentience of mice; it is from PETA, but what they are showing is all proven in a scientific lab setting. Rats are altruistic, and will help a friend even if it means foregoing... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: What level of manufacturing would a "mining world" possess? OP Q: just how much processing would be done on the mining planet before the end result is shipped back to the homeworld? Presumably all of it; to reduce both the size and mass of the "end result" before shipping. There is no point in shipping slag which is going to be discarded anyway; and for ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Treatment of mental illness in a dystopian society You are mistaken about autism; my grandson has it. He has no problem with memory at all; in fact one aspect of his autism is difficulty in learning language (he did not start speaking until about 4 1/2); in essence the "natural" part of language development is missing in many autistic children, and t... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I explain why in a future of robots, ai, and automation, people still bother to do anything themselves? It provides a social life, and people enjoy doing things and doing them together. The product is not the point, producing it is the point. Sure, my wife could get a robot to tend her garden perfectly; but then she probably just wouldn't have a garden: She wants to the work, pick out the plants, posit... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is there any feasible real sounding science sci-fi explanation for a chronovisor? I upvote a4's wormhole tech; but note that a wormhole could be small enough (atom sized or molecule sized) to just let a stream of photons through. In such a case, the visor is just a regular LCD display; the real scifi tech is a mechanism moving the atom-sized wormhole in the fourth dimension to ch... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: High-speed shieldless spacecraft requirements Shape the ship! Make it like a needle, with a very long (mile long) prow. Various materials are harder than diamond (See Here), I would suggest something like #1, carbyne, at 200 times the strength of steel and much harder than diamond. This shape won't deflect anything much bigger than your ship, ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Being aware of highly evolved civilization Is it possible that in our solar system or galaxy there is such a civilization so higly developed that we are "ants" unable to even be aware of their presence, in this very moment? Yes. We know about hundreds of planets around other stars here in our galaxy; and we do not have the techno... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Would super-sized humans be super-intelligent? Most likely not. Like our own transistors in real life, Human neurons have already evolved to the very edge of being as small as they can be and still function without being overwhelmed by electrical noise (noise causes errors); and evolution preserves this tiny size (and myelin coating) for the same... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is possible to make an "almost-perfectly" sealed ship? After reading Cort's impressive answer; I'd offer an alternative, to "nearly" perfectly sealed. Construct a cover that fits over the ship; as close as possible with the constraint of being only two pieces with a single seal between them (as small as possible). Or for practicality, as few pieces as po... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is a medieval technology method of underwater enemy detection? In the realm of simple magic: Great White Shark patrols. The magic is to give the sharks a predisposition for patrolling the shore; they can go off to hunt for food, but the magic means they just never get tired of hunting the shore near the city, even if they never catch anything there. Similar lo... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Warming up Mars Your better bet, with a smaller (but still huge) lens (or series of mirrors that form the equivalent of a lens), would be to put the equipment inside the orbit of Venus, keep it synchronous with Mars orbit (this requires fuel; which you might be able to accomplish mostly with solar power; e.g. accele... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can a one-gender humanoid species reproduce quickly? I'd correct the "one every two days" flaw, it is implausible: or change it to some component of the body: one brain, one heart whatever. The solution to your problem is socialism within the species. They care for each other when pregnant, for as long as it takes, and care for their young together, u... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How could the planet Jupiter be flung out of the Solar System Rogue Planet. Jupiter is far enough away, and isolated enough, that another Jupiter-sized planet (or larger) flung out of it's solar system, which would necessarily be traveling in a straight line, could pass close enough to lift Jupiter out of its orbit. Note that the straight line could be from an... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: To what extent is maturation of the adolescent brain a matter of time versus experience? I don't think it will, the brain maturation you are talking about is a biological phenomenon, not a training or learning phenomenon. Specifically, it is (at least one component of it is) coating the nerves in the brain with myelin, a physical process that improves accuracy of transmission and doubles... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Off-planet energy production - what would be best way to supply this energy planetside? The obvious answer is to use as much in space as possible! There are relatively easy ways of producing large quantities of metals and other materials from asteroids using space foundries; these are just large thermal focusing of the sun's energy using simple aluminum mirrors to melt the asteroids. ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Given our current knowledge of exoplanets, approximately how many planets have earth-like gravity in a galaxy the size of the Milky Way? The "billions" estimates are probably correct, precisely how many billions is not going to have any significant effect on your plot line. So I will address a different story concern I'd have. .. would be more related to gravity than atmosphere, temperature, etc; all of these can be overcome with... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Could the males of a primarily monogamous alien species have antlers? The antlers can be a signal of health, a strong immune system, etc, just like a peacock's tail. The peacock's tail is actually a drag on survivability (literally), it makes it more difficult for the peacock to escape predators (and this is observed in the wild). The same has been shown for bright col... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Planet of constant environment, negating need for human evolution into races? I agree with jamesqf. I would add that IRL we observe such isolations determined by mountains, valleys, canyonds, deserts, rivers, and dense forest; and these do not have to be particularly remarkable: I recall reading of one instance in which monkeys of one ancestral species are evolving differentl... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Could there exist a non-addictive drug giving the same pleasure as heroin? I'd also say, the answer is No, "without being addictive, at all," is impossible because everything pleasurable is addictive. We have sex addiction, food addiction, exercise addiction, porn addiction, gambling addiction, gaming addiction, just to name a few that are legal and have been academically s... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Grass on planets with very huge forests I will add that relatively constant intense grazing by large herds can also be responsible for creating vast grasslands; I recall an experiment done by students (must of been twenty years ago I heard about this) in which they fenced off an area about the size of an Olympic swimmming pool in a grassy ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How Could an Alien or Superhero Increase and Decrease Their Hearing at Will? Seems like a fishy problem, here! Okay that's a pun; there is a biological mechanism called the Weberian Apparatus that acts as an amplifier and resonance chamber (using the fish's swim bladder) to give fish (only a certain order; including carp and minnows) extremely sensitive hearing. From the link... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Could a habitat ring be spun-up and stabilized by electromagnets? Yes, with major caveats. If you look at the video Lio provided (in comments), you will see the basic principle of turning on and off electromagnets to cause a temporary pull toward another magnet. However, the only reason the motor works as we expect is because the outer casing is mounted to some... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Balance between superintelligent AI and human race If I were the AI, I wouldn't bargain. I would hire mercenaries, specifically psychopathic humans without any morals whatsoever, and promise them whatever they wanted, under any conditions, to find out what my "flaw" was. There will always be many thousands of people on Earth willing to do anything fo... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How would an astronaut conclude he's on Earth, but 600 million years in the future? The night sky will still tell you, your planet is orbiting our Sun. Just ignore the stars of the Milky Way. The Milky Way is just one galaxy of many. It is moving, but in 600MY it will have moved about 11 times its width. But it is only 100,000LY across; other galaxies are a million (M100 is), even... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to communicate with an A.I. that doesn't believe it needs a language I voted up with others and will agree; in an attempt to make the problem difficult, the setup has prevented most responses. A super-intelligence will out-predict all humans, or it isn't superior. If it considers us irrelevant but doesn't have a plan to defeat our nuclear weapons and doesn't comprehen... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: What Natural Forces could Make Intelligence/Technology a Disadvantage or at Least Inferior to Something Else? What could nature throw into the mix to make intelligence or technology an evolutionary disadvantage? Starvation, and/or an easy life. Brains are extremely expensive; they consume 20% of your calories for about 2% of your weight. [1] [2] They are no good if they consume calories and do not pul... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: From scratch measurement units My presumption is the "radio" is like a real radio and translation is accurate and effectively instant: There is no significant delay. I presume the planet is normal, rotating (not tidally locked), and orbiting a star. Edit: We can deal with delay as long as it is reasonably consistent and/or not ver... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can I detect one ship arriving in an otherwise abandoned solar system? I'd say yes; in the scenario the listening ship can set up sensors that are literally miles long; like the gravity wave sensors that have recently made headlines. Think, as an analogy, about motion detectors used in alarm systems: They have a pattern of data they are sensing, the electronics are ver... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How physically small can human intelligence get? From Here: "The average human brain has about 100 billion neurons (or nerve cells) and many more neuroglia (or glial cells) which serve to support and protect the neurons (although see the end of this page for more information on glial cells). Each neuron may be connected to up to 10,000 other neuron... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Are these conditions for a planet realistic? All your settings are completely plausible. I upvoted the @ventsyv answer; but I need to correct one thing: Planets can rotate at any speed; in any direction; thanks to collisions during their formation. It is not mass dependent. Asteroids can spin like tops! See the NASA Planetary Fact Sheet, or ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to create a seawall with medieval technology? Yes, obviously, if stone materials are available. The pyramids were built, right? Stonehenge was built. The Roman Coliseum was built, and we know how. Infinite money and workers means stone walls of great height and width can be built. Unlike the pyramids; it is not necessary to have huge stones tha... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Could a self-aware bacterial supercomputer start its own ecosystem? This actually relates to the OP's question; give me a minute. Self-awareness does not require an internal dialogue or a language in which to speak. Self-awareness is having a mental model (simulation) of one's own body and mind, which one can use in mental simulations to plan movements and actions f... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is this kind of lifeforms and ecosystem on Enceladus plausible? I don't think this is plausible. How did they become smarter than humans? The most plausible route to Intelligence is that it evolves in an environment where it is useful, that is where it exists in all known intelligent species in real life. That pretty much excludes apex predators, they only need ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Advanced alien insect long range communication I think it is fair to assume these insects are haptic; meaning they have some sense of touch in their environment. Then the solution can be a code, like humans have, developed along the lines of morse code. Long before they engaged in space travel they had to engage in long distance communications ov... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: What would happen if an object on Earth has an equal or greater gravitational force than the Earth? Neutron star material, if it could be contained by means other than its own gravity; would require a cube about 390 meters on a side to equal the mass of the Earth, if it could somehow be 'placed' on the Earth. As LSemi says, it would simply sink to the core, accelerating, and bounce back and forth ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: What realistic way could limit an FTL drive to only travelling between stars? Say that the run-up acceleration to FTL has to be about 10% of light speed, that FTL depends upon a discovery involving a violation of symmetry in the Lorentz contraction (a consequence of relativity), but 10% of C is the minimum sufficiency to exploit this and make the FTL mechanism work. That is ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Genetic diversity in an interstellar society I think isolation is still there; occasional visitors from off world notwithstanding. Our features are environmentally driven: The caucasian nose, skin color, eye color and hair are all adaptations for a colder climate. Our skeletal structure and muscles are clearly adapted to deal with our particula... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Avoiding Violation of Causality with Stable Wormholes An alternative writing approach: If two observers are NOT traveling toward or away from each other at relativistic speed, then there is no problem. Make that a feature of your wormhole: It is impossible for it to open on anything but empty space in microgravity conditions. I'm not sure if space itse... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Avoiding Violation of Causality with Stable Wormholes The Pole and Barn paradox exists even at sublight speed. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Relativ/polebarn.html That is not an issue of causality; it is just a disagreement about when things occur. It says that in one point-of-view (an observer in the barn) the pole fits in the barn with... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Genetic structure of a trait with six discrete phenotypes You are in luck! Six variations fits quite nicely into the genetic code; look here at the DNA to Protein Table. There are four DNA 'letters', ATCG. It takes 3 letters to specify a code for one of our amino acids; or one of the control codes ('Start', 'Stop'). That is 22 results for 64 possible comb... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Captured Earth-Like Moons around Gas Giants I'm not sure where you are looking, but first look here: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/23a96x/couldanearthsizedobjectorbitjupiter/ The answer is Yes; any two objects can orbit each other, include Earth and Jupiter. You need to be concerned about the Roche Limit, which tells you how... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do I use late Victorian mad-science to tame lost world megafauna? I'd go with mad-scientist chemistry, better living through better drugs. You train them the same way we train other animals; with sticks and carrots. But instead of getting physical (electric shocks or mere food), let's use some awesome drugs. First, a knockout dart: He can fire it into a Brontosaur... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: A planet with all of its water underground You mention "oceans", certainly we have huge aquifers in the world (Ogallala in the US is a big one; 174,000 square miles, bigger than the Caspian Sea (at 143,000 sq mi). Here are other aquifers). A world heavily dotted with a network of such aquifers could have no oceans; but I imagine there would... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Would humanity survive an empty Earth suddenly populated with young children? Children the age of 3 can be trained to recognize dangerous vs acceptable vegetable foods. At age 3 they can be in kindergarten and learning. They can also learn to acquire berries, honey, and to recognize and harvest edible insects like ants. Presuming 90% of their training is survival skills and ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago

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