by gg3 » Thu 03 Feb 2005, 20:43:41
Good one, Lennon.
My precognition score was around p<.01 last time I checked, with occasional forays into p<.005. I suppose I should retest soon to get a current score. But 100 years is a neat trick if you can do it.
I suppose if I went out 1,000 years or maybe 10,000 years and popped up on a street corner, it might go like this:
*pop!*
Me: Hi! I'm visiting from the past...
Bystander 1, whose name is John: Uh-oh, look, a Homo Sapiens! They're dangerous, we should call the police-
Bystander 2, whose name is Robert: That one doesn't look dangerous, I say we talk to him first. Excuse me!, hello? Do you speak English?
Me: Yeah, hey I'm not dangerous, in fact I'm proto-Noeticus so I'm almost one of you. I'm dropping in from just before the Malthus Epoch, to find out what you think about fridges and washers, and plug-in air fresheners while we're at it. Just a little research, that's all.
John: Oh, okay. Sorry about the misunderstanding there. So, uh, what's a fridge?
Me: It's a metal cabinet in your kitchen where you put food to keep it cold so it doesn't spoil.
Robert: Oh, we read about those in history classes. Crude technology really, no wonder you ran out of fuel. We have something called a stat box. Stasis field container, it stops entropy. So your food stays the same temperature it went in at, and you don't have to heat it later.
John: But for cold foods you can set a temperature zone in the stat box, for instance to keep your ice cream frozen. Usually people just set entire shelves at one temp or another so they don't have to worry about putting something back on the wrong side of a shelf.
Me: I see. Very interesting. So, what about washers?
John: What are those?
Me: You put your dirty clothes in and it agitates them with water and soap, and your clothes come out clean-
John: That must have been fun to watch. We have cleaners too, but they don't use water. You put your clothes in at the top and a few minutes later they come out clean in a drawer at the bottom, and you empty the dirt container once a month.
Me: I see. Hmm. Okay, what about plug-in air fresheners?
Robert: What?
Me: You plug it into the wall and it releases a little chemical in the air to cover up bad smells.
Robert and John both laugh uproariously.
John: You're not serious are you?
Me: Yes, quite serious. I never used one of those but...
John: We have flowers indoors, and we leave our windows open. I'm surprised that never occurred to your species.
Me: Some of us, yes. Most of us, well, you know the history, right?
Robert: Yeah.
Me: So, uh, what energy source do you run on here?
John: Sources plural. Our roofs are painted with PV material, even the areas that don't get much sun. There's a fusion reactor about twenty kilometers north of here. And out in the Bay you can see the wind towers and tidal capture system. There's a proposal going around right now to tide-capture the entire bay from the inlet, but the utility doesn't have enough votes to get it approved. Just as well, we can build another reactor in a few years if we need it.
Me: Can I get a closer look at some of those...?
Robert: If you want to spend a few days. In the meantime, what are you doing tonight? John and I are having a few friends over for our anniversary, and after dinner we all sit around and tell stories. I bet you've got quite a few to tell.
Me: Uh, yeah, I guess, but probably nothing you'd want to hear.
John: Sure we do. It's not every day a Homo Sapiens drops in from the Malthus Epoch, right?
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I am not nuts. I am a squirrel. Squirrels gather up nuts. Because they like them.