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weryllium, both for suggestions and letting me use the idea (even if they already were working on a version!)
Now I get to read and enjoy this article without putting in any of the actual work or crit-waiting, so yeah :P Dinosaur seal of approval happily granted.
So, a couple points that I'd like cleared up:
1. Why prehistoric life? Why couldn't this guy just, you know, make it so it produced endangered species, or very recently extinct ones? Okay, yes, he's a walking parody of environmentalists, but unless he's using an anomaly that can't be altered to remove the other effect, I don't see the point.
2. The Foundation does a lot of scientific research. Are they making any effort to collect some of the smaller organisms, like the Anomalocaris, for study?
3. I don't think Meganeura should be the only thing dying here. While it's true that invasive organisms can be catastrophic, these creatures are adapted for environments that no longer are present, and that becomes more true the further back you go.
4. Can this produce prokaryotes?
5. How much oil is required for the effect, and do subsequent spills in the same location trigger the effect?
1. Because crude oil is largely a product of prehistoric life.
2. I don't think they're terribly interested in these organisms, because the organisms themselves aren't anomalous.
3. You're almost certainly right, but I thought it would be more narratively interesting if most of the organisms survived. I figured there was enough leighway here to get away with it.
4. I don't know — I think the Foundation's worst fear with this would be something like that, though. There might be some long-extinct bacteria out there that could, given the opportunity, totally fuck our shit up.
5. Considering point #4 — and considering that containing this thing is down near impossible — I don't think the Foundation cares too much about this question; their primary concern is finding a way to stop it from happening.
Sidenote: I didn't mean the guy to come off as a parody of environmentalists. I actually kind of see his point? IDK; I don't think I'd do what he's doing, and I think he's grossly underestimating the possible impact of shoving the wrong organism into the wrong ecosystem — but I also think he's not wrong when he says that humans are doing something way worse than this.
On #3, Meganeura is an extreme case. Take horses as a real-world example: they went extinct in North America around the end of the last Ice Age, but when reintroduced in the 1500's they soon reestablished feral populations. So long as a horse can eat the plants and breath the air, plains are plains.
Dammit, I was hoping to be the first one to reference a Cambrian organism in a scip!
On a more "serious" note, could you maybe, possibly add a few more incident logs? As it is it feels a bit bare bones.
Tentative +1 from me.
Cambrian organisms are amazing, imo.
Also, on one hand, I see what you mean about it feeling bare bones — on the other hand, I wanted to keep the article as light and agile as possible. Plus, each incident required a bit of research and I had to find a credible picture for the organism (it is super-hard to find good 'realistic' looking pictures for extinct organisms that are also public domain >_>).
And also — this only happens during an oil spill. Aside from the Philadelphia refinery spill, none of the spills I provided here are fictitious — they're the three major spills that have happened since 2010. If I wanted more incidents, I'd have to either make up spills or go back farther (which would be a significant rewrite!).
I upvoted for the interview. I keep chuckling at "Al Gore."
Huh? Wait, why?
That's just PoI-8A051's name.
You can't be serious. Next thing you're gonna say is that he actually invented the internet.
Wait a minute. We have logs of SCP 3057-2 - 5. Where'a SCP-3057-1?
Reminds me of that skip that disintegrates anything man-made. Not sure what it was or if it's even around now but they're more charming than this illogical POI who wants to upset the ecosystem even more.
I've heard from people who think the PoI is being an illogical moron and people who think the agent is being a vindictive asshole. Neither strike me as true; I think the PoI has a pretty good point, but I also think the agent is right in that the PoI's actions are dangerous and irresponsible.
Either way, I agree with the PoI's central premise, if not his activities: However ecologically devastating the transformation of crude oil back into prehistoric organisms might be, our use of crude oil has been, is, and will continue to be a far greater threat to life on earth than a couple of giant sharks and dinosaurs.
threat to life on earth
Actually, to paraphrase George Carlin: Life is going to be fine. It's humans who are screwed. It's a totally selfish thing for humans to want to prevent climate change- we're the ones that are going to suffer if the ecosystems we depend on collapse.
Life, meanwhile, will deal with it just like it has every other major ecological catastrophe. Did you know that large portions of1 the Amazon Rainforest were savanna until a human civilization discovered how to conduct large-scale fertilization, and then died out, leaving behind huge abandoned cities and vast fields of enriched soil? Same thing happened to the Khmer Empire (mastered large-scale hydraulic engineering) and parts of Southern India (the process of creating their mystical super-metal (aka high-carbon steel) required a lot of fuel, so they got very good at farming oil-rich plants). Life is fine. It's humans that don't live there anymore.
Pardon, right — I should have clarified — global warming is something that life can deal with; spilling billions of barrels of crude into the oceans is… more difficult. Life will survive, but — unlike global warming — spilling crude doesn't just shift the biome and make room for a different organism; you're basically poisoning the biome. And, I mean, there's not enough crude oil to annihilate all life, but there's probably enough to render certain areas close to unlivable.
{Actually, on further reading, I'm discovering that there's such things as microbes that eat crude oil — so even in this I'm still kind of wrong! I still think it's correct to say that bringing extinct species back probably causes less of an ecological 'upset' than global warming or oil-spills, though. I imagine it depends on what type of organisms we're talking about, however: I'm no biologist, but I'd wager there's at least one extinct micro-organism out there that could completely rewrite the world's current ecology.}
however: I'm no biologist, but I'd wager there's at least one extinct micro-organism out there that could completely rewrite the world's current ecology.
And I'm betting there's at least one undiscovered microorganism that does the same. Hell, it's probably close to a 1:1 ratio.
It's estimated that there may be a trilion seperate species of microorganisms living on Earth, and that of those, only .001% have been officially described by science.
I feel like the idea is quite clever, but I'm really bothered by the interview.
Is the POI right that people have done horrible stuff to the environment? Yeah. Is that excuse for him to do something also horrible, even if it's less in extent? No.
I think I'm mostly bothered by the Foundation personnel's incompetence here. He should have called out on POI's apparent logic flaw, that other people's terrible actions doesn't justify his own terrible actions. And maybe counter him that if he actually want to benefit the enviornment, he could have just turned that into enviornment-friendly things, plain as sea water, instead of ancient beings that would distrub the ecosystem, even if it's "less damage". (Even if the POI can't do that, it would be nice for the Foundation to call out on that, an oppotunity to learn more about how this works.) And probably call the POI out on being a hypocrite, and only doing this because it's more dramatic and out of ignorant. And then Foundation might actually get something, at least some info out of that.
That would be a much more intelligent exchange than the current one, because while the POI can be an idiot that just overlook the consequences, the Foundation personnel doesn't have to be. I feel like if the Foundation actually want to know how to solve this that bad, they should get someone with skills in interrogation, rather than just a very angry agent.
I'm all for making POIs/GOIs look sympathtic, but it is not done through, making it so that they seemingly have a point, when they do not, or downgrading Foundation personnel's intelligence ._. Even if the POI still remain how he it is now, there are probably ways to make him relatable, rather than trying to present his shaky point.
Then again, this is just my feelings on it ._.
Thanks for putting into words what I couldn't. I upvoted for the concept, so this is all secondary, but the childish POI whose reaction to a house fire is to pour more gasoline on it, is kind of annoying when he doesn't get told off for his logic fail, like Sunny said.
That's the thing. Nobody's calling out how illogical this guy is. The skip as it is written tries to paint this guy as being right when he's just as bad as the guys who are damaging the environment through oil spills. At least that's how The Great Hippo is painting my bias through his enviromental messages.
It should be worth noting that the MCF wants nothing to do with this guy and they're the group most notable for causing more harm than good through their actions.
MTF Psi-2 ("Clever Girls")
I don't know what's funnier, that name, or the idea that the foundation has a dedicated anti-raptor task force. I liked this for the most part, but the interview felt really off in terms of tone.
You can blame weryllium in part for them (also, they're not just an anti-raptor task force; they're a paleontologist task force).
Also, yeah, I plan on rewriting/adjusting the interview, somehow. I haven't gotten around to it mostly because I'm still thinking about how to revamp it.
I know this is a late reply, but that makes the task force Much better. I get a little tired of seeing task forces seemingly get implemented for very specific, one off events. Seeing two get used in this article was bothering me, and a name that on the nose (albeit very humorous) wasn't helping. I'm much more okay with "Clever Girls" now, though, knowing that their talents are useful anywhere paleontological anomalies are in play.
Who giving interrogation Classes at the foundation nowadays.
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