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loncon: science
Sep. 11th, 2014 09:16 pmas part of loncon 3's superabundance of programming, it had a very strong science track. it wasn't just the usual space science, but also included biology, the dismal science (economics), and a few other disciplines. i deliberately went to only a little of the science track as part of my continuing attempt to see stuff other than what i know i'll like.
nonetheless, i saw a bunch of science stuff.
there were three lectures on "speculative biology", the art or science of coming up with plausible exo-biologies. the first presentation was just a set of quick introductory talks by a bunch of people who play with the ideas.
the second one really got into the state of the art: gert van dijk's furaha and c. m. koseman's snaiad. both of these are well-developed worlds populated by odd...ly plausible things.
van dijk really gets into forms of locomotion that make physical and biological sense, but never evolved here. i really like his tetropters:
mechanistically, they fly by clap-and-fling, a technique used by some insects, but all our bugs do it only on one axis, not two. tetropters make better use of their wings than real bugs do, because they have a higher lifting duty cycle (two claps per wingbeat).
koseman started out with some sketches and then back-rationalized biology that would make something like them. his main effort has been in developing a huge range of animals in a number of distinct taxons, so the world seems to be plausibly populated and evolved, with many biomes and niches occupied by multiple critters, the way the earth is.
i happen to like the titaniformes, such as these guys:
the third talk in the series was given by dougal dixon, of after man fame. his current book is greenworld, which isn't out yet. he was apparently presenting stuff from it, but his talk was at the same time as the masquerade, so i didn't bother to go.
my notes say that at some point, one of the speakers mentioned the TV series the future is wild, also about speculative biology, but i know nothing more about it.
( the fermi paradox in light of kepler, thursday 19:00 )
( far centaurus: the pros and cons of interstellar travel, sunday 16:00 and our interstellar future, 16:30 )
( finding the furthest quasar, thursday 18:00 )
( liveship trading: fantasy economics, friday 18:00 )
( how space missions happen, monday 16:30 )
( the bottom up: the fantastical world of human waste, sunday 21:00 )
nonetheless, i saw a bunch of science stuff.
there were three lectures on "speculative biology", the art or science of coming up with plausible exo-biologies. the first presentation was just a set of quick introductory talks by a bunch of people who play with the ideas.
the second one really got into the state of the art: gert van dijk's furaha and c. m. koseman's snaiad. both of these are well-developed worlds populated by odd...ly plausible things.
van dijk really gets into forms of locomotion that make physical and biological sense, but never evolved here. i really like his tetropters:
mechanistically, they fly by clap-and-fling, a technique used by some insects, but all our bugs do it only on one axis, not two. tetropters make better use of their wings than real bugs do, because they have a higher lifting duty cycle (two claps per wingbeat).
koseman started out with some sketches and then back-rationalized biology that would make something like them. his main effort has been in developing a huge range of animals in a number of distinct taxons, so the world seems to be plausibly populated and evolved, with many biomes and niches occupied by multiple critters, the way the earth is.
i happen to like the titaniformes, such as these guys:
the third talk in the series was given by dougal dixon, of after man fame. his current book is greenworld, which isn't out yet. he was apparently presenting stuff from it, but his talk was at the same time as the masquerade, so i didn't bother to go.
my notes say that at some point, one of the speakers mentioned the TV series the future is wild, also about speculative biology, but i know nothing more about it.
( the fermi paradox in light of kepler, thursday 19:00 )
( far centaurus: the pros and cons of interstellar travel, sunday 16:00 and our interstellar future, 16:30 )
( finding the furthest quasar, thursday 18:00 )
( liveship trading: fantasy economics, friday 18:00 )
( how space missions happen, monday 16:30 )
( the bottom up: the fantastical world of human waste, sunday 21:00 )