[extropy-chat] Singularity heat waste

[Robert Bradbury]

On 7/17/06, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> An earlier comment from Eugen tweaked my 'interesting' sensors.
> Just exactly *why* do humans have a working temperature of around 37C?
>
> Obviously millennia of evolution have been adjusting up and down to
> find the best compromise for humans. Slower metabolism v faster
> metabolism survival characteristics.
>
> After some searching I found the new field of (still controversial)
> Metabolic ecology.
> [snip]
>

You have to be *very* careful here.  There is an interplay between
a) Size (volume) and surface area; and
b) Size and cell number

By increasing the volume to surface area ratio (n^3 v. n^2) larger species
have a greater heat production & retention capability -- so they can run the
cells more slowly (and decrease free radical production) while maintaining
the same temperature.  Larger species also have larger cell numbers and
therefore greater overall cellular reserve capacity.  Being larger also
tends to reduce the number of species that can prey upon you.  So there are
multiple reasons that larger species can live longer.  Of couse being larger
causes you tend to hit the environmental resource capacity (e.g. food)
limits with greater frequency.

Rather than focus on simply cell temperature, I would also want to draw
attention to cell volume.  Out of all of the possible volumes that
Eukaryotic cells could have why is the general structure for Eukaryotic
cells to have ~1000x the volume of Prokaryotic cells?  There are a few
examples of multi-genome copy 'fused' cells (some muscle cells, some liver
cells, megakaryocytes & granulocytes) but these are relatively rare compared
with the number of total cell types (~300) and species (thousands [mammals]
to millions [insects]).  If you start to fiddle with the cell temperature --
why not fiddle with the overall architecture?

One has to wonder why there is a lack of imagination going on with both
nature (same ole same ole) and virtual realities?  Where are the Sci Fi
novels or Video Games where the players are constructed out of utility fog
for example?

Robert
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