31 réponses à ce sujet

[BSpud]

Genetic/ancestral memory doesn't exist. In a nutshell, these things you describe are results of mutations that at some point were beneficial to that species, and therefore subsequently passed on to later generations, even if they're no longer relevant now. DNA does not store memory or experiences.

The Javik thing is pseudoscience. Believe me, this is not a new idea and it's been long debunked.

Modifié par BeefheartSpud, 27 août 2013 - 04:48 .

[McFlurry598]

johnnythao89 wrote...

Lolz, everything you just stated sounded like what the Animus does from AC.

[Rusted Cage]

BeefheartSpud wrote...

Genetic/ancestral memory doesn't exist. In a nutshell, these things you describe are results of mutations that at some point were beneficial to that species, and therefore subsequently passed on to later generations, even if they're no longer relevant now. DNA does not store memory or experiences.

The Javik thing is pseudoscience. Believe me, this is not a new idea and it's been long debunked.

I'm not sure. See, the dog's ability to smell the wolf urine and recognise it as the scent of a larger predator despite having no prior association with the animal,  or a kitten demonstrating unlearned behaviour could probably be described as instinct. Yet as far as I know, there is no such thing as an instinct gene but how else could these things be transmitted from generation to generation?

[In Exile]

Reorte wrote...
Eezo exists as a necessary thing to get FTL travel working. Such things usually get a pass in soft science fiction if they're there to achieve something completely necessary for the setup. At that point a few other bits of nonsense, like biotics, can get slipped through. The usual rule - get your exceptions and additions to reality in place early on, and don't have more of them than is absolutely necessary for the setup you want.

I'd say biotics go far beyond just nonsense and into outright science fantasy, but YMMV. Otherwise I agree with your posts on the subject. 

Rusted Cage wrote...

I'm not sure. See, the dog's ability to smell the wolf urine and recognise it as the scent of a larger predator despite having no prior association with the animal,  or a kitten demonstrating unlearned behaviour could probably be described as instinct. Yet as far as I know, there is no such thing as an instinct gene but how else could these things be transmitted from generation to generation?

The following is super bare bones, but the answer is that there is. 

Well, there isn't any one gene, but instict is a bit like intuition, and we're starting to get a good idea of the biological roots for both. Instict is like the software that comes preloaded with your hardware when you get a new PC. Knowlegely can be carried genetically, just not to any level of complexity without a host of resource related problems. 

[Rusted Cage]

In Exile wrote...

Reorte wrote...
Eezo exists as a necessary thing to get FTL travel working. Such things usually get a pass in soft science fiction if they're there to achieve something completely necessary for the setup. At that point a few other bits of nonsense, like biotics, can get slipped through. The usual rule - get your exceptions and additions to reality in place early on, and don't have more of them than is absolutely necessary for the setup you want.

I'd say biotics go far beyond just nonsense and into outright science fantasy, but YMMV. Otherwise I agree with your posts on the subject. 

Rusted Cage wrote...

I'm not sure. See, the dog's ability to smell the wolf urine and recognise it as the scent of a larger predator despite having no prior association with the animal,  or a kitten demonstrating unlearned behaviour could probably be described as instinct. Yet as far as I know, there is no such thing as an instinct gene but how else could these things be transmitted from generation to generation?

The following is super bare bones, but the answer is that there is. 

Well, there isn't any one gene, but instict is a bit like intuition, and we're starting to get a good idea of the biological roots for both. Instict is like the software that comes preloaded with your hardware when you get a new PC. Knowlegely can be carried genetically, just not to any level of complexity without a host of resource related problems. 

That is interesting. I have heard it said that there isn't a huge difference between animals genetically, that we are 98% the same as a chimp. Theoretically speaking then, wouldn't that mean that not only could we clone a chimp, we could alter a biopolymer here and a chromosome there and create a chimp with the instincts of a badger?

[In Exile]

Rusted Cage wrote...
That is interesting. I have heard it said that there isn't a huge difference between animals genetically, that we are 98% the same as a chimp.

Again, with the caveat that this is really simplified, I'm going to try to explain why this can be true while the 2% difference makes a really big difference.

Think of the difference between a computer, a TV, a DVD player, a VCR player and a smart phone. They're physically very different. They're used for very different things. But they share a lot of the same physical building blocks. They have a similar plan, because they're superficially similar at a high level in terms of their design.

When we're talking about DNA, you have to understand that DNA is just an instruction to produce a given protein. That protein is then used as a building block itself, and groups of proteins are building blocks, and so on. The majority of our DNA (using our generally to refer to most species on Earth) contains information for very basic proteins that we all share.

When you hear the 98% figure, that means things like the fact that our muscles and the chimps muscles are made out of the same stuff, are both recognizable as muscle because of similar cells, etc. 

That's the scale you have to keep in mind.

Theoretically speaking then, wouldn't that mean that not only could we clone a chimp, we could alter a biopolymer here and a chromosome there and create a chimp with the instincts of a badger?

It's not that simple. It's like saying knowing how to make a TV and knowing how to make a smartphone means that if we change a "chip here" and a "transistor there" we could make a TV that's really smartphone. 

Obviously it's theoretically possible to design something that's a TV and a smartphone simulatenously. But engineering wise it's way more complex than just swapping out a part or two. 

[Rusted Cage]

Thanks In Exile, that's very helpful. So even though Javik's power is complete hokum, biological markers in the form of genes transmitting instinct are not out of the bounds of science?