New Reality Seeds

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by Anders

Has anyone referenced the split in 1997, when the universe changed from a state where "Han shot first" to a state where "Greedo shot first"? Yes, there are still reality shards lying around - especially on the Internet - but that's to be expected.

*shudder* I can't imagine a universe where Greedo shot first. What a horrible, drab, benighted landscape that must be...

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Drifter

*shudder* I can't imagine a universe where Greedo shot first. What a horrible, drab, benighted landscape that must be...

Even storm troopers couldn't miss from 2 feet away and prepared.
It's not like shooting first made Han evil or anything. He shot a bounty hunter hired to capture and take him to certain death. That's self defense in any universe.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Oh, yes, this. To be fair, though, I'm pretty sure most of us agree that science does not know everything yet, so we can't really say that psi powers are definitely impossible (there are a number of weird things out there that people who may not have been lying or hallucinating have reported), just very probably impossible.

I hate that absence of evidence / evidence of absence nonsense you are dangerously close to implying.

No one ever applies that position uniformly, only to their pet myths.
Lots of people have claimed Satan or God made them kill or aliens abducted them only to probe their anuses. Without any shred of proof, we MUST dismiss those claims.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Drifter

I agree with Combatmedic that materialists will be sent into a tizzy since psi powers seem uncomfortably close to proving we have a soul (see Poul Anderson's "The Martyr"). Religious objections are obvious - psi is the work of the Devil, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, etc. And just as obvious, of course psi powers have been "noticed" before; how else do you explain all those pesky miracles, weird coincidences and hail-mary plays that worked?

...

I'd sooner bet that it just supports biochauvenism and ever present humancentrism more than religious concepts like souls.
Back to the vital essence of life being fundamentally different from inanimate objects and energy.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Incense and peppermints anyone?

Indeed, indeed.

Have the researchers of Rhine 1 developed any psi-drugs?

What effect do LSD and other psychedelic drugs have on psi?

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I hate that absence of evidence / evidence of absence nonsense you are dangerously close to implying.

That is not what I said, though. If the witnesses were not lying or hallucinating, then something happened. The question is what? You will I hope note that I said psi was very improbable, rather than likely, yes?

[(E)]

Single shot
What if Joseph Whitworth's rifle had been accepted as standard by the British army. With Whitworth being less disillusioned about dealing with the army he cooperated rather than competed with Armstrong. Whitworths experience with the Babbage also led to better gunnery tables increasing the effectiveness of artillery. This resulting in the British army having accurate breach loading artillery and a more accurate and longer ranged rifle in the 1860's. However when Hiram Maxim went to develop the machine gun the higher fouling and added technical difficulty of a hexagonal bullet stumped him and he choose to work on steam powered flight instead.
What happens when WW1 is fought without the aid of the machine gun.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Drifter

*shudder* I can't imagine a universe where Greedo shot first. What a horrible, drab, benighted landscape that must be...

Now imagine a world where there are midichlorians.

I haven't read all the pages, so pardon me if this one has been taken. Gavrilo Princip is run over by a cart on his way to assassinate the Arch-Duke. There is no World War I, at least not right then and there.

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Indeed, indeed.

Have the researchers of Rhine 1 developed any psi-drugs?

What effect do LSD and other psychedelic drugs have on psi?

I'm of two minds on this. Psychedelic drugs effect serotonin receptors in the cortex, which is integrating sensory signals from the senses. So those signals get disrupted; my very very basic understanding of the process.

On the one hand this would very likely just make any psi powers harder to use. There might be a small change of great insight into using the power, but I really doubt that - it would be more like trying to drive a truck or figure out differential equations while on LSD.

On the other hand maybe the laws of this reality allow 'mind expanding' drugs to do just that. They provide the missing power to the right sections of the brain, along with activating the "correct" serotonin receptors to allow for psi powers. Its still a lot like driving a truck under the influence, so I'd give control rolls and such. To me this is the more game-able concept, fitting into the Psychedelic-60s motif. I don't know if it would work on people born outside this timeline, however, as its probably a mutation or even physical law change up.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Indeed, indeed.

Have the researchers of Rhine 1 developed any psi-drugs?

What effect do LSD and other psychedelic drugs have on psi?

They are experimenting that way. The problem is that they know PSI exists, but nothing about it.