On 01/07/2025 02:03, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 6/30/2025 11:37 AM, Stefan Ram wrote:

<snipped>

Dafuq?

It looks like a bible-style description of
applied panspermia, or else terraforming.

It seems to involve "God", who could be the
spaceship's AI, and some pre-programming
of genes in the first appearance of life whose
function is relevant later on, which I think is
an idea in Christian "Creationism" or "intelligent
design" - that instead of genes coming into
existence by evolution, they all existed in the
original created entities but were suppressed.
I think it's describing the development of life
on Earth, but perhaps being partly fictional.
And not just because "God" is involved.
Successive forms of life themselves don't emerge
from the "Ark"; they don't appear until their
due time - according to actual prehistory if or when
this account really is following that.

I don't recognise "a matrix of amorphous silicate
and hydrogenated carbon". Could it be a description
of eggshell?

This might be an excerpt from or a response to
_Science Fiction By Scientists_, but nothing fits in
a skim read of the detailed review "reprinted" here <https://featuredfutures.wordpress.com/2020/08/31/science-fiction-by-scientists-edited-by-michael-brotherton/>
including the "obvious" "Spreading the Seed".

And it doesn't seem to be known by Google.

However, the appearance of very technical scientific
terms, or what looks like such, suggests that it's
from a scientist's hand.

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Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@gmail.com> wrote or quoted:

This might be an excerpt from or a response to
_Science Fiction By Scientists_,

It all kicked off in this out-of-the-way newsgroup called
"de.etc.sprache.deutsch".

Someone there got curious about a word from Switzerland,
"Biolade" (health food store/organic food store).

That word made me think of "Bundeslade" (the Ark of the Covenant).
It really got my imagination going, trying to figure out what
a "Biolade" could be, and I started thinking my text should be
a mix of biblical and scientific language. I was also influenced
by a certain sci-fi story from a scientist I'd recently read.

So first, I put together a post in German for "de.rec.sf.misc",
and later followed up with an English one here. The biblical
vibe in the German version is based on Martin Luther, and in
the English one, it's based on the KJV.



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* Origin: Stefan Ram (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

On 7/4/2025 3:36 PM, Stefan Ram wrote:

Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@gmail.com> wrote or quoted:

This might be an excerpt from or a response to
_Science Fiction By Scientists_,

It all kicked off in this out-of-the-way newsgroup called
"de.etc.sprache.deutsch".

Someone there got curious about a word from Switzerland,
"Biolade" (health food store/organic food store).

That word made me think of "Bundeslade" (the Ark of the Covenant).
It really got my imagination going, trying to figure out what
a "Biolade" could be, and I started thinking my text should be
a mix of biblical and scientific language. I was also influenced
by a certain sci-fi story from a scientist I'd recently read.

So first, I put together a post in German for "de.rec.sf.misc",
and later followed up with an English one here. The biblical
vibe in the German version is based on Martin Luther, and in
the English one, it's based on the KJV.

.....

Dafuq?

:P


--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

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* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

On 04/07/2025 23:36, Stefan Ram wrote:

Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@gmail.com> wrote or quoted:

This might be an excerpt from or a response to
_Science Fiction By Scientists_,

It all kicked off in this out-of-the-way newsgroup called
"de.etc.sprache.deutsch".

Someone there got curious about a word from Switzerland,
"Biolade" (health food store/organic food store).

That word made me think of "Bundeslade" (the Ark of the Covenant).
It really got my imagination going, trying to figure out what
a "Biolade" could be, and I started thinking my text should be
a mix of biblical and scientific language. I was also influenced
by a certain sci-fi story from a scientist I'd recently read.

So first, I put together a post in German for "de.rec.sf.misc",
and later followed up with an English one here. The biblical
vibe in the German version is based on Martin Luther, and in
the English one, it's based on the KJV.

There is "Noah's Ark" of course, and probably
lots of science fiction natural-diversity-saving
"arks" - at least three in "Doctor Who" stories,
and _The Starlost_, and _Silent Running_.
"The Noah Plan" set to music by Peter Schilling,
and "After the Gold Rush", by Neil Young.

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* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

Reply-To: blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com

I am sorry but
I have to say this is anti-science fiction. Like "Frankenstein" by
Mary Shelley warning us about our irresponsible attempts to take on
"the power of God".
The Universe as far as we know set the parameters for life in its earliest moments allowing for the further evolution of elements without
which life as we know it would not be possible.

Our own life bearing world was subject to catastrophic disasters
such as its assembly from the leftovers of a supernova and perhaps
previous worlds and the post-assembly of a large asteroid to knock off a
piece of the Earth to form our large Moon. With the Sun and the Moon
pulling on the tides evolution from primitive forms to more complex to
deal with the changes which tides cause eventually led to the spread of
life from the oceans to the land and finally after the plants made it
possible. So I put God if any at creation of the universe.

Since then I dunno but it is worth noting that the unnameable G*d
of the Hebrews was originally a storm god and if you look at the Universe comparison with earthly storms like hurricanes and cyclones is inescapable.
But earthly storms are more well organized while the universe is drawn
into stuff by dark matter and gravity.
Which is why I am neutral on the question of Diety.

On 6/30/25 11:37, Stefan Ram wrote:

1:1 God sent forth an Ark of the Biology, a vessel of exceeding
subtlety and cunning, wherein was preserved the essence of
life, being a compendium of nucleic acids, protein polymers,
lipid vesicles, and mineral catalysts, all encased in a
matrix of amorphous silicate and hydrogenated carbon.

1:2 And the Ark contained a reservoir of proto-cells, their
membranes fashioned from phospholipids, enriched with sterols and
carotenoids for protection against the fierce light of the sun.

1:3 And God said, Let there be life: and the Ark opened, and there
issued forth the first cyanobacteria, prokaryotes with double
membranes and thylakoid stacks, endowed with the full complement
of genes for oxygenic photosynthesis: psbA, psbD, psaA, psaB,
rbcL, and rbcS. These microorganisms synthesized chlorophyll-A and
phycobiliproteins, fixed CO₂ by means of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate
carboxylase/oxygenase, and released O₂ into the atmosphere.

1:4 And the cyanobacteria covered the waters, and they built
stromatolites by the secretion of calcium carbonate, and
they multiplied by binary fission, exchanging genes through
conjugation, transformation, and transduction.

1:5 And there arose a new age, wherein oxygen gathered in the
air, and the face of the earth was changed.

1:6 And God saw that it was good, and said, Let the earth bring
forth further kinds.

1:7 And out of the cyanobacteria, by endosymbiosis, arose
the first eukaryotes, which segmented their genomes and
organized their cells with organelles, importing proteins
into mitochondria via the TOM/TIM complex.

1:8 And there appeared algae, mosses, and ferns, which
performed photosynthesis with Photosystem II and employed
C₃ or C₄ metabolic pathways.

1:9 And the plants covered the land, and they developed lignin
and cellulose in their cell walls, and they produced seeds and
fruits, and there arose a diversity of life forms, whose genomes
were diversified by polyploidization and allopatric speciation.

1:10 And God looked upon all that had come forth from the Ark,
and behold, it was very good.

Give me leave to doubt as I only have faith for what is evident without scripture of any religion.

bliss

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