From fork-admin@xent.com Thu Sep 5 11:31:06 2002 Return-Path: Delivered-To: yyyy@localhost.example.com Received: from localhost (jalapeno [127.0.0.1]) by jmason.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 346B616F7C for ; Thu, 5 Sep 2002 11:28:30 +0100 (IST) Received: from jalapeno [127.0.0.1] by localhost with IMAP (fetchmail-5.9.0) for jm@localhost (single-drop); Thu, 05 Sep 2002 11:28:30 +0100 (IST) Received: from xent.com ([64.161.22.236]) by dogma.slashnull.org (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g852Y1Z01236 for ; Thu, 5 Sep 2002 03:34:02 +0100 Received: from lair.xent.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by xent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 806EB294200; Wed, 4 Sep 2002 19:31:03 -0700 (PDT) Delivered-To: fork@example.com Received: from mail.datastore.ca (unknown [207.61.5.2]) by xent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C5C9E2940AA for ; Wed, 4 Sep 2002 19:30:05 -0700 (PDT) Received: from maya.dyndns.org [207.61.5.143] by mail.datastore.ca (SMTPD32-7.00) id A28361A001C; Wed, 04 Sep 2002 22:33:39 -0400 Received: by maya.dyndns.org (Postfix, from userid 501) id 959DC1C336; Wed, 4 Sep 2002 22:32:07 -0400 (EDT) To: Elias Sinderson Cc: Jim Whitehead , FoRK Subject: Re: Gecko adhesion finally sussed. References: <3D768684.30702@cse.ucsc.edu> From: Gary Lawrence Murphy X-Home-Page: http://www.teledyn.com Organization: TCI Business Innovation through Open Source Computing Message-Id: Reply-To: Gary Lawrence Murphy X-Url: http://www.teledyn.com/ MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: fork-admin@xent.com Errors-To: fork-admin@xent.com X-Beenthere: fork@example.com X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.11 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Friends of Rohit Khare List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Date: 04 Sep 2002 22:32:07 -0400 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-8.6 required=7.0 tests=AWL,KNOWN_MAILING_LIST,NOSPAM_INC,REFERENCES, SIGNATURE_SHORT_DENSE,SMTPD_IN_RCVD,SPAM_PHRASE_00_01 version=2.50-cvs X-Spam-Level: >>>>> "E" == Elias Sinderson writes: E> ... The strength to weight ratio of a spider is so high E> that Spiderman is able to throw a bus several city blocks with E> little effort. His endurance is similarly enhanced as well. Could this be as simple as a modified molecular structure where the humanoid cells are in fact exo-skeletally structured with more atoms per cubic angstrom to achieve the distance-squared tensile strength enhancements we find when we introduce smaller metal atoms between the lattice packed grid of iron atoms to create steel? This 'steel-effect' might give bone structure and tendons dramatically (several orders of magnitude) more tensile strength without the need to significantly increase the weight (like magnesium-alloy or carbon-fiber weight compared to iron, Spidey could even be way under weight). Only increasing tensile strength could accommodate the mobility and leverage feats since bones are actually formed from bubbles of organic material hydrolically assisted, tensile strength cross-sectionally would give his frame the strength to withstand the muscular enhancement. E> As for the spidey senses, well they're really great, but AFAIK E> not really well explained in the comic series. If the same close-packing gap-filling arachne-molecular structure modification occurs in neural tissues, and there'd be no reason to think that these would grow differently from bones and tendons, then what we are seeing in spidey sense is no more than the heightened cerebral functions due to shorter/faster/stronger synapses throughout the entire nervous system. Since we know dogs and cats measure human emotions by smell, clearly hearing the heartbeats, and other subtle clues within their normal sensory ranges (but seem mystical to us) ... for Peter Parker, everything from air currents on his facial-hairs to extremely subtle hormone smells might coallesce into a general gestalt of Spidey-Sense; don't forget that he'd acquired this ability in adolescence and thus would lack any cultural or even pathological basis to explain the heightened awareness to himself in anything but mystical terms. We know from issue #1 that his collision-avoidance reflex response time was far swifter than his cognitive awareness since he 'found' himself already stuck to the tree when the bicycle was already past and hence his disorientation ("You ok, Mister?") as if it was a hallucination. Hmmm ... it may even be physio-psychologically interesting to examine if Peter Parker's personal quandries arose _because_ his physiological 'Spidey' infrastructure had been advanced whereas his psychological perception of his self had not, ie, "Peter" was not "Spiderman" but just the "driver of the bus". Only, unlike ourselves, he found his self driving a body-vehicle not evolutionarily matched to his cognitive time-scales. -- Gary Lawrence Murphy TeleDynamics Communications Inc Business Advantage through Community Software : http://www.teledyn.com "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."(Pablo Picasso)