RE: RE: Metal transport (was: platoon stuff and combat engineers)

From:  Beth.Fulton@csiro.au
>Yep... its actually an interesting thought experiment as to whether
biologies based on different chemistries can exist... are we refined to
the
chemistries we see today because their precursors were the only ones
that
turned up or because they're the only ones that can turn up ;)

I believe there's something about this in Steve Gillett's book on
planetbuilding.

>And much less against my grain than biological things functioning in a
vacuum... not that I'm about to throw the SV baby out with the
biological
bath water ;)

I don't mind biologicals operating in a vaccum although I imagine the
outside layers would get quite brittle.  What bothers me is a biological
main drive....

>thin self repairing suits <snip>. They're flexible
enough to allow everyday movement without restrictions, but when hit
hard or
with high intensity (e.g. shrapnel, bullet, sharp edge or point) they
act
like a rigid body (think of the difference between when you enter water
quickly or slowly).

Water behaves this way simply because you have to shove the mass aside,
but if you have thin suits which don't restrict movement, you can't be
talking about that much mass.  I assume you meant this as an
illustration of the effect but not the cause?

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