[ExI] NBIC/GRIN Elements as Philosopher's Magnum Opus

[Adrian Tymes]

2011/8/6  <natasha at natasha.cc>:
> The four elements ? earth, water, air and fire

In that light, consider solid, liquid, gas, and plasma.  Granted, that's more
of a stack than a circle - until one considers the very low pressure plasma
that makes up most of the universe, which often interacts directly with solid
objects too small, and too far from any star (most of this is in interstellar
space), to have much (if any) of the other two phases.  Also, with very few
exceptions, the heavier elements that form solid bodies are manufactured in
plasma (stars).

> But I wonder, if NBIC, GRIN, etc. are the tools (chemistry?) for the life
> extension/expansion are they somehow equitable to the Alchemist?s 4 or 5
> elements?

They're closer to techniques or fields of study, such as brewing potions or
methods of analyzing unknown chemicals.  Water itself was never a tool
per se, though it figured prominently in many tools.  The raw elements -
well, these days we have more than just the 4 or 5, and that's a good thing
(more combinations we can play with, thus more effects without going too
far beyond the basics).

Also consider that, by many accounts, alchemy was the first true science,
following an experimental paradigm and building up a base of tests to
discern correct theories from incorrect ones.  For instance, a geologist
alchemist might have distinguished which samples from a mountain
contained useful minerals and which were just rock, so as to direct the
placement of a mine.  So, while you can not always directly equate modern
methods with those of an alchemist (though modern surveyors, for example,
use methods an alchemist might recognize the principles of), you can extend
their methods into the modern toolkit, tracing lines through history as more
capabilities and more understanding became available.