We're talking about the survival of the human race! The smaller the (colonising) population is, the more important it will be to make sure the common genome is in order.

But, I also mentioned that we need diversity - and stand by that - so from a PC point of view, I think I should be in the clear.

I just thought it was funny that your last post immediately singled out Africans for exclusion from the ship and that you followed that up by commenting that a lot of your genes' "close family" would be on board. I know you well enough to know that your comment wasn't intended to come off the way it did, which is why it was kind of humorous to me.

Maybe a happy compromise would be if every human being was allowed one vote, you could nominate one person that you wanted to be on the Ark. Some people would nominate themselves, others would nominate people like the Pope or the Dalai Lama, here comes the silver lining, millions of people would vote for Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga and possibly Greenday. I know it doesn't change the fact that you're still getting left behind to face certain death, but it does mean that you no longer have to live on the same planet as some of the people I mentioned earlier, every cloud. What if there's no youtube in space, its not a chance I'm willing to take.


My vote would go to Will.i.am, just out of pure spite.


It was a toss up between him and Thatcher, but the way I see it Thatchers going to be dead soon anyway, and I wouldn't want her to die in outer space, I wouldn't want to miss the party. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

How did I single out Africans for exclusion? Africa represents a wealth of humanity's genetic diversity and that should of course be represented in humanity's survivist colony.

The close family comment may be a little hard to get for people who don't study biology, but evolution rewards the procreation of genes. You give your genes to your kids which pass them on to their kids and so, in a way, some of what makes you you will still exist in the future. This has implications like we tend to be nicer to people whom we share genes with. Because humans are not that genetically diverse, that may well explain in part why we are so seemingly altruistic and good at cooperating and it also means that the people going away on that ship carry with them part of what makes you you. Probably more so if a representative from your nation, ethnic minority, etc, is on that ship.

So, if they are "sufficiently diverse", I would regard the group of colonists going as someone who ensures not just the survival of themselves (which I expect is what leads to comments like "shoot them into a black hole"), but all of us. Family, in a way, even if they aren't. Hence, my genes close family.

edit :

I understand the wish to have everyone's opinion matter, but in such specific circumstances (one ship to carry X amount of people), I think who gets to go would be better left up to experts rather than popular opinion. You should try to maximize the probability for mission success (humanity's survival) rather than maximize some short-lived satisfaction of having a say for all the people who are soon going to be dead.

edit :

I also know you were not completely serious. In before someone points that out. ;)

Because the only "bad genes" you mentioned were those that result in sickle cell disease, a condition that that primarily affects people of African decent.

Again, Tore, I just found it humorous because of how your comment sounded, not what you actually meant. I was joking with the eugenics comment, hence the laughing smiley.

It is more common in areas with malaria because being a (single allele) carrier for the gene helps make you malaria-resistant. But it's not something which exclusively affects black people of Africa and neither do I think it is regarded as something that makes someone typically african. And it's not like all africans carry sickle cell disease.

So I don't think excluding sickle cell disease from the ship means noone with african heritage gets to go. The imaginative length you'd have to go to in order to get that out of what I wrote is, in my opinion, very far. ;)

Once again, it was a joke. Relax.

this is such a cool thread. :)

trollheart, i will definitely be watching this doc in the next few days when i have time.

and personally, i think you should at least try to write a book or a screenplay or something. it might make a little gap in your MB legacy, but it would certainly be worth it.

I would think they'd have to. We'd kind of have to take a chunk of our ecosystem with us in order to survive in the long term.

You know why they didn't care to discuss polluting space? It's because there are already so many forms of radiation in space already that it would be like a raindrop into a well.


Nooooo, keep Abrams away from it. I'm tired of his overuse of lens flares. Other than that, it sounds like it could be a pretty good show.

We probably wouldn't have to take all animals. We could just take their DNA and clone them.