Hi There - Welcome to OA!
Please feel free to join in on any discussions that grab your interest or to start new ones if there's something you'd like to talk about.
And of course, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Speaking of questions...
I'm not entirely sure how broadly you're asking the question, so going to try to answer pretty broadly on the theory I'll be more likely to touch on the specific question you're asking that way:
a) If you're asking about all the fractal artwork in the EG - that's because one or more members got into creating fractal art and contributing it to the project and we decided it made a nice addition to the EG, particularly since we didn't have the skills to create really representational artwork and many of the subjects the EG covers are more cultural or conceptual than strictly representational anyway.
b) Some fractal solids and similar look cool and rather like a fusion of the organic and the cybernetic - which is in line with how technology in the setting is often described.
c) For neurofractal patterns specifically - speaking editorially, why not fractals? They're fun.
Speaking 'in setting' - Given the name, it presumably does require a fractal structure for that particular technology. Whether or not there are other - non-fractal - patterns/structures/shapes that can produce the same/similar effects isn't currently written up in the EG, but is something we could discuss and potentially add if the consensus is to do so.
Would you be interested in writing up such an article in that case? OA is built on volunteer labor after all and we're always looking for new volunteers.
Wormholes are spherical objects (to our 3d senses anyway) and passing through one isn't really like passing through a tunnel per se. As you enter the wormhole (which begins some 327 AU out from the Throat), space-time around you seems to both close in from all directions and distort to an ever increasing degree. So the stars and whatever else you would see around you as you approached the wormhole would start to warp and smear and whatnot while appearing to get closer and closer from all directions at once.
This effect would continue until you reached the Throat of the wormhole, at which point everything would appear both maximally distorted and to be at a distance equal to the radius of the Throat (so somewhere between hundreds of meters and 50km away from your ship). If any part of the ship extends further than that minimum size in any direction, it will be subject to massive tidal forces and ripped apart (which tend to void the warranty). After the point of maximum warping/compression, the process reverses and space-time seems to expand away and un-distort - except that the space you're now in is at the other end of the wormhole, some number of light-years away from where you started.
Hm. Please provide the page title and/or a link to the page in question. We'll want to take a look at it to determine if it needs updating or if you're perhaps misinterpreting what it's saying.
Hope this helps and once again - Welcome to OA!
Todd
Please feel free to join in on any discussions that grab your interest or to start new ones if there's something you'd like to talk about.
And of course, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Speaking of questions...
(03-05-2023, 08:36 AM)ExabyteMiner256 Wrote: Why fractals? -- In certain places, most notably the article about "neurofractal patterning", my question is: Does it have to be a fractal? Please answer below.
I'm not entirely sure how broadly you're asking the question, so going to try to answer pretty broadly on the theory I'll be more likely to touch on the specific question you're asking that way:
a) If you're asking about all the fractal artwork in the EG - that's because one or more members got into creating fractal art and contributing it to the project and we decided it made a nice addition to the EG, particularly since we didn't have the skills to create really representational artwork and many of the subjects the EG covers are more cultural or conceptual than strictly representational anyway.
b) Some fractal solids and similar look cool and rather like a fusion of the organic and the cybernetic - which is in line with how technology in the setting is often described.
c) For neurofractal patterns specifically - speaking editorially, why not fractals? They're fun.
Speaking 'in setting' - Given the name, it presumably does require a fractal structure for that particular technology. Whether or not there are other - non-fractal - patterns/structures/shapes that can produce the same/similar effects isn't currently written up in the EG, but is something we could discuss and potentially add if the consensus is to do so. Would you be interested in writing up such an article in that case? OA is built on volunteer labor after all and we're always looking for new volunteers.
(03-05-2023, 08:36 AM)ExabyteMiner256 Wrote: What do wormholes look like on the inside? -- The EG article "Wormholes: A Layman's Guide" describes wormholes in a way that makes it seem like wormholes look like long tunnels from the perspective of spacecraft moving through them. Is this really how they look in the setting? Again, please answer below.
Wormholes are spherical objects (to our 3d senses anyway) and passing through one isn't really like passing through a tunnel per se. As you enter the wormhole (which begins some 327 AU out from the Throat), space-time around you seems to both close in from all directions and distort to an ever increasing degree. So the stars and whatever else you would see around you as you approached the wormhole would start to warp and smear and whatnot while appearing to get closer and closer from all directions at once.
This effect would continue until you reached the Throat of the wormhole, at which point everything would appear both maximally distorted and to be at a distance equal to the radius of the Throat (so somewhere between hundreds of meters and 50km away from your ship). If any part of the ship extends further than that minimum size in any direction, it will be subject to massive tidal forces and ripped apart (which tend to void the warranty). After the point of maximum warping/compression, the process reverses and space-time seems to expand away and un-distort - except that the space you're now in is at the other end of the wormhole, some number of light-years away from where you started.
(03-05-2023, 08:36 AM)ExabyteMiner256 Wrote: That's not how hacking works! -- A certain EG article on the risks of using DNIs seems to imply that it is possible to bodyjack someone by sending some combination of bits at their DNI. Of course, one should expect the particular data sequence to differ between DNIs, but it sure seems like the article is implying that someone (probably of at least SI: 1) could bodyjack a modosophont by simply sending (ridiculously complex) data at their DNI. As the title of this paragraph says, that's not how hacking works! It would be fine if the hacker had some hardware in the DNI working with them, but with only software and/or data (both just sequences of bits), there are ways to make bodyjacking impossible even to an SI: 6 or something as long as they can only work with data: the target can (to quote Isaac Arthur) "slap the big red disconnect button in their head" at any time. This goes for many other things too: for example, if someone doesn't want to experience the death of the person they're linked to via DNI technotelepathy as they're vented from a hab, they simply hang up. To quote Isaac Arthur again, "Hollywood makes it look like it's possible to hack anything."
Hm. Please provide the page title and/or a link to the page in question. We'll want to take a look at it to determine if it needs updating or if you're perhaps misinterpreting what it's saying.
Hope this helps and once again - Welcome to OA!
Todd
Introverts of the World - Unite! Separately....In our own homes.