Would a 9 lb sapient spider producing 1/10 lb of silk a day suspend your disbelief?

[Flyndaran]

Working from the various sources given by posters.
I've got 8oz per day silk for a Status -1 spider making silk cost $20 per pound.
With a spinning wheel it takes 1 month to spin and weave enough for a suit of normal clothing resulting in plus $75 per pound, $150 per pound for armor quality.
Now I wonder how long it takes to tailor a regular suit of clothing using TL3 or so equipment.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I believe I included an exception for the supernatural. Of course, I don't believe in souls, but if they existed, it would be possible that AIs can't have them.

Right. You included the exception, and wisely so. You deserve credit for your intelligence and open-mindedness.
Are the researchers whom you had mentioned now engaged in discussing the 'extra physical component'? Or did you simply mean that their models are unworkable without such things?

[teviet]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Working from the various sources given by posters.
I've got 8oz per day silk for a Status -1 spider making silk cost $20 per pound.
With a spinning wheel it takes 1 month to spin and weave enough for a suit of normal clothing resulting in plus $75 per pound, $150 per pound for armor quality.
Now I wonder how long it takes to tailor a regular suit of clothing using TL3 or so equipment.

The 8oz/day figure based on the orb weavers was off by a factor of 200; it should be 0.04oz per day for a 9lb orb weaver.

Of course your critters aren't orb weavers, and 8oz/day is not impossible, but it's going to tie up a significant fraction of their overall metabolic output.

TeV

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by teviet

The 8oz/day figure based on the orb weavers was off by a factor of 200; it should be 0.04oz per day for a 9lb orb weaver.

I had neglected to correct the initial post to 0.3 oz from 8 oz after acknowledging the miscalculation, I've done so now so as to avoid any future confusion.

So we could say that a 9 lbs spider could carry up to 1/50th of a pound of silk protein as some sort of Silk Pool (EP), with regeneration of silk protein at 1/500th per day from eating normal proteins, or 1/50th per day if it can cannibalize old silk thread.

[teviet]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Right. You included the exception, and wisely so. You deserve credit for your intelligence and open-mindedness.
Are the researchers whom you had mentioned now engaged in discussing the 'extra physical component'? Or did you simply mean that their models are unworkable without such things?

I wouldn't say the models are unworkable at all. The brain is fantastically complex even without any supernatural component, and researchers are just scratching the surface; there's no evidence that a "supernatural" or exotic-physics component is needed to explain our behaviour.

Good scientists are always open to the possibility of a complete overhaul of their models, if the evidence requires it. Currently there is no such evidence.

TeV

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Are the researchers whom you had mentioned now engaged in discussing the 'extra physical component'?

No. They're completely pointless to discuss, since if they exist we have no idea what their properties are, and cognitive science researchers aren't set up to discover new forces.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by teviet

The 8oz/day figure based on the orb weavers was off by a factor of 200; it should be 0.04oz per day for a 9lb orb weaver.

Probably 0.005oz per day, actually; metabolic scaling is typically around order 0.75 in mass, so for their mass the 9 lb spiders should produce 1/8 as fast as the 0.0035 oz lb spiders.

[Anders]

M^0.65 for spiders (Comparative Animal Physiology, Withers, p.96)

[Flyndaran]

All the realism reductions in output keep putting silk production closer to the Low Tech +99 CF. It just won't be marketable to anyone but those with lots of money and little sense.

As it is, there is simply no reason to buy spider silk armor, when iron or bronze plate and chain is cheaper and offers more protection.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

M^0.65 for spiders (Comparative Animal Physiology, Withers, p.96)

That's probably a feature of poor respiration requiring a much faster reducing metabolism than for mammals, right? Or am I misreading the datum?