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The Metals Company should have taken the advice of Sir Humphrey Appelby in Yes Minister, "Minister, two basic rules of government: Never look into anything yo
by rswail 2y ago
The Metals Company should have taken the advice of Sir Humphrey Appelby in Yes Minister,
"Minister, two basic rules of government:
Never look into anything you don't have to.
And never set up an enquiry unless you know in advance what its findings will be."
- lukan 2y agoI hate it, that this is likely good advice.
- TeMPOraL 2y agoFiction: an exoplanet research company stumbles upon ruins of an ancient alien civilization, investigates it with profit and power in mind, then accidentally releases some ancient evil that plunges galaxy into war. Reality: an exoplanet development company stumbles upon ruins of an ancient alien civilization, and quickly paves it over before anyone else notices, because there's nothing worse for a real estate developer than having to wait for a green light from archaeologists.
- elcritch 2y agoPlus a strip mall with Waffle Houses and 7-11’s would be the universes best defense anyways!
- Kostchei 2y agotwist, 30 years later the aliens tunnel up from under the concrete
- tecleandor 2y agoBuilding a mall on an alien burial ground site. What could possibly go wrong.
- CobrastanJorji 2y agoAh, you want to the Murderbot Diaries. It's got both of those two things in spades.
- jofer 2y ago^ This x1000. Everyone should read those! And the world needs more murderbot. "As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure." “I was having an emotion, and I hate that.” “I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked real ones, but you can’t have one without the other.”
- CobrastanJorji 2y agoMore fictional, tortured, powerful robots freed of their Asimovian restraints should opt to fuck off and watch soap operas instead of choosing to take revenge on the humans who so wronged them.
- no_wizard 2y ago>an exoplanet research company stumbles upon ruins of an ancient alien civilization, investigates it with profit and power in mind, then accidentally releases some ancient evil that plunges galaxy into war The Protheans warned us. Thats all I'm gonna say on the matter.
- TeMPOraL 2y agoI was thinking more of the Shadows of Z'ha'dum - a planet whose name actually sounds like the name of some foreign mall. "Let's all go to Z'ha'dum after school! cheering".
- raducu 2y agoCan't they prove or disprove by just getting some ocean water in a tank, adding those metal balls to it and observing if any oxygen is produced or not?
- Miraltar 2y agoYou have to keep this tank sealed or the water gets slightly oxygenated by contact with air, you have to keep it in the dark and at stable temperature or other reactions could disrupt your experiment. How do you measure the oxygenation without introducing potential error in this context ? You can't just make an instrument appear in the middle of the tank. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29429385 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29429385