[ExI] a clean well-lighted challenge

[spike]

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf
Of Anders Sandberg
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 12:14 AM
To: extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
Subject: Re: [ExI] a clean well-lighted challenge

 

On 2015-09-23 00:11, spike wrote:



 

>>.So now I have a challenge for you.  Write a Hemmingway-esque story (or a
you-esque story if you are better than Papa) which will teach me something,
anything.  The Hemmingway story has memorable qualities, but taught me nada.
I am looking for a short story that is memorable and instructive, on any
subject that interests you. 


>."Customers!"
.
"Local interaction, parameters easy to change during development or even
after, variable optics effects."
"Stripes or hexagons would do diffraction spread for the bots."
"Bingo."

-- 

Anders Sandberg
 
 
Cool!  Thanks Anders, I have learned something about insect eyes.  It never
occurred to me before, but should have: insects don't have eyelids and they
fly around in dusty and polleny environments, so why don't their eyeballs
get dirty?  Had you asked me before I read your short story, I might have
guessed they clean them.  If you watch a fly when it is sitting still (such
as on a turd) it appears to be doing something vaguely analogous to what a
cat does with its paw, washing its head.  I would like to get a slo-mo video
of a fly doing that, to see if it is cleaning its eyeballs.
 
This is most of the reason I have continued to hang out here after all these
years: you guys teach me things.
 
Now I get to see how well I taught you.  From that short story you read
yesterday, no looking it up, remember the jingle.  Imagine it is the next
day and the students are taking their test.  They get this question:
 
Name the seven classes of stars by letter, in order of temperature and what
comes next in the series if it isn't a star. 
 
spike
 
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