Settling a dispute
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Does Bronze count as a mineral for these purposes? If so did you know that the earliest form of bronze was arsenical and that large amount of copper deposits used during the copper and bronze age were contaminated by arsenic. This is probably what resulted in early blacksmiths being shamans, because they poisoned themselves while making their tools and went crazy.
I'll allow it, because A. interesting. and B. I can use my preplanned response:
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This is the opposite outcome of one of my friends advisors. We went to the Roswell UFO museum as a lark. And one of the info panels said "this is potential alien metal panels, analyzed by a scientist, Dr. So and So" and we told the professor, who got really angry. "I said that I would look at what they had and it was all flattened pieces of beer cans, I told them not to associate me with this nonsense!"
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Does Bronze count as a mineral for these purposes? If so did you know that the earliest form of bronze was arsenical and that large amount of copper deposits used during the copper and bronze age were contaminated by arsenic. This is probably what resulted in early blacksmiths being shamans, because they poisoned themselves while making their tools and went crazy.
Interesting exception: in North America around the Great Lakes, pure native copper was widely available at the surface due to the ice sheets exposing underground deposits when they advanced/retreated.
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There is a widespread idea that people from the past were dumb due to a lack of information, the age of smartphones and free access to information has made it clear that a lack of information was never the issue, we are just really fucking stupid animals.
I mean, yeah, but also we made machines to feed us interesting things and it turns out we really like to be mad for some reason (justified or otherwise) and we'll share things to make others mad too. Throw in a profit motive, economic woes due to said profit motive, and it's over.
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I mean, yeah, but also we made machines to feed us interesting things and it turns out we really like to be mad for some reason (justified or otherwise) and we'll share things to make others mad too. Throw in a profit motive, economic woes due to said profit motive, and it's over.
Again, stupid fucking animals.
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Interesting exception: in North America around the Great Lakes, pure native copper was widely available at the surface due to the ice sheets exposing underground deposits when they advanced/retreated.
The Great lakes copper complex also used cold forging which avoids the issues of vaporization. Can't have your brain melted by vaporized materials if you never melt it down or cast it, though thats only possible due to the relative purity of the more veins.
Also the Great lakes copper complex most likely kicked off due to the collapse of trade routes making getting good quality stone for tools a right pain in the ass.
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I thought mercury was more likely for causing those "issues."
While that may have been an issue for some the sheer amount of arsenic bronze artifacts kinda points in the direction of it being the arsenic. Mercury was more of an issue for later cultures who used it for makeup or other sundries, or alchemists and Medicare but they played around with questionable materials all the time.
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I mean, yeah, but also we made machines to feed us interesting things and it turns out we really like to be mad for some reason (justified or otherwise) and we'll share things to make others mad too. Throw in a profit motive, economic woes due to said profit motive, and it's over.
Part of our animal nature is to be tribalistic, and we don't often get a lot of that in our daily lives so that people find ways to feed that need. Tribalism involves violent intent about outgroups that don't conform to our "tribe" (read: pack).
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I want this job so bad. Do you know how much I know but never get asked about! I have to inflict it apon people to get it out ofy system.
New York Public Library! [video]
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This is the opposite outcome of one of my friends advisors. We went to the Roswell UFO museum as a lark. And one of the info panels said "this is potential alien metal panels, analyzed by a scientist, Dr. So and So" and we told the professor, who got really angry. "I said that I would look at what they had and it was all flattened pieces of beer cans, I told them not to associate me with this nonsense!"
So you're saying he did analyze the metals, and that he couldn't conclusively prove that they weren't alien metal?
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There were literally phone numbers you could call and someone at a library would look up the answer to your question. In like, a day or so. And call you back with the info.
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I'll allow it, because A. interesting. and B. I can use my preplanned response:
Can the trap be a glacier? I want future archeologists to dissect my corpse much like how Ötzi who was probably a metal shaman based off of his tools and how far travelled he was. Though he was most likely a very early example, also he was most likely murdered.
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I have a friend who works for a library. They still offer this service. I don't think anyone under the age of 70 has used it in some time.
Wow, seriously?
Imagine how many people actually call from a smartphone their kids bought them.
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So you're saying he did analyze the metals, and that he couldn't conclusively prove that they weren't alien metal?
wrote last edited by [email protected]This whole "it's comprised of an unknown element" thing that sci-fi likes to do is ridiculous in and of itself.
If aliens did turn up on Earth their starships would be constructed out of known materials, sure it might be some exotic alloy, or other engineered metamaterial, but we definitely understand what it was.
There's no such thing as alien atoms. Iron is iron.
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There were literally phone numbers you could call and someone at a library would look up the answer to your question. In like, a day or so. And call you back with the info.
There used to be an address at some university and you could mail them photographs of insects and they would tell you what those insects were.
Usually it would turn out to be a beetle of some kind.
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Oh wow, to be jump scared by the Destiel fanfic writer I'm obsessed with (the stories not the person lol) in the wild.
Northern Sparrow is an amazing writer and talks often about bird physiology in her fics!
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This whole "it's comprised of an unknown element" thing that sci-fi likes to do is ridiculous in and of itself.
If aliens did turn up on Earth their starships would be constructed out of known materials, sure it might be some exotic alloy, or other engineered metamaterial, but we definitely understand what it was.
There's no such thing as alien atoms. Iron is iron.
I'm still not convinced alien technologies would be totally incomprehensible to us. Some of it obviously will, but their tech will still adhere to basic fundamentals like levers, inclined planes, and wheels -- as well as fundamental forces like electromagnetism, kinetic energy, and pressure.
When you need to fasten two parts of machinery together, there are a limited number of efficient ways to do it. I fully expect bolts, nuts, and washers to be a universal technology. Same with focusing radiation; there are not many substitutes for lenses, mirrors, and lasers. When you need to move something around in gravity well, you're always going to need a wheel. If something needs to rotate, there aren't many substitutes for a rotor, stator, copper windings, and electricity. Gears, chains, and belts work just fine for transferring that rotational energy. Nobody is gonna go looking for exotic forces to perform tasks that can be far more easily accomplished conventionally.
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Oh wow, to be jump scared by the Destiel fanfic writer I'm obsessed with (the stories not the person lol) in the wild.
Northern Sparrow is an amazing writer and talks often about bird physiology in her fics!
well yeh it's fiction. because birds aren't real.
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I'm still not convinced alien technologies would be totally incomprehensible to us. Some of it obviously will, but their tech will still adhere to basic fundamentals like levers, inclined planes, and wheels -- as well as fundamental forces like electromagnetism, kinetic energy, and pressure.
When you need to fasten two parts of machinery together, there are a limited number of efficient ways to do it. I fully expect bolts, nuts, and washers to be a universal technology. Same with focusing radiation; there are not many substitutes for lenses, mirrors, and lasers. When you need to move something around in gravity well, you're always going to need a wheel. If something needs to rotate, there aren't many substitutes for a rotor, stator, copper windings, and electricity. Gears, chains, and belts work just fine for transferring that rotational energy. Nobody is gonna go looking for exotic forces to perform tasks that can be far more easily accomplished conventionally.
Not wheels. When your technology is sufficiently advanced you un-invent the wheel and just hover everywhere.
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Not wheels. When your technology is sufficiently advanced you un-invent the wheel and just hover everywhere.
I know right? Who needs fire anyway?
