From: seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com   
      
   On 3/5/17 3:42 PM, Doc O'Leary wrote:   
   > For your reference, records indicate that   
   > "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"  wrote:   
   >   
   >> 	An uncountable infinity many-worlds; literally anything can happen, and   
   >> does in SOME universe. The author chooses the universe where whatever   
   >> setup he or she wanted was the one that happened.   
   >   
   > Only a bad author would take that approach.  It is *not* the case that   
   > anything can happen simply because you have infinities. With those   
   > combinations comes an infinity of *dependencies* that result in outcomes   
   > that must be inherently stable according to the laws of the universe in   
   > question.   
   >   
   > For example, there isn’t a version of this universe where everything is   
   > identical *except* the mass of the Earth is twice as great and yet   
   > everything grows twice as tall.  That just won’t happen without a *lot*   
   > of new physics to explain it.   
   >   
      
      
   	And in an uncountably infinite set of universes, you can have any set   
   of new physics you like. Generally one doesn't waste time explaining   
   them, because that's not the point of a story. If the point of the story   
   was "explain how X happens" then yes. But otherwise, no.   
      
   	   
   > Or look at the new Kong movie I see being advertised.  The trailers show   
   > a *very* energetic large creature that is living on an isolated island.   
   > That sort of ecosystem *alone* is simply not believable to anyone with   
   > half a brain living in this universe.   
      
   	Or someone who just wants to see a giant monster movie and realizes   
   that the answer is "Rule of Cool is trumping Rule of Physics. Or perhaps   
   in that universe, Rule of Cool is PART of Physics. Like Pacific Rim."   
      
      
      
   >   
   >> 	In the Trekverse, it turns out that ONE species seeded a lot of the   
   >> human(oid) races around the galaxy.   
   >   
   > And that makes *zero* sense, given what we know about the intertwined   
   > genetics of *all* living things on this planet.  Writers shouldn’t be   
   > biting off more than they can chew when it comes to trying to explain   
   > the big picture.  It especially falls flat when they make *no* effort   
   > to explain *why* all the variations somehow had a natural selection   
   > process that had survival rest seeming on such insignificant traits   
   > as fucking face ridges.   
   >   
   >> 	In mine, Earth is where it started, and all human and humanoid races   
   >> throughout all the infinite universes derive from that particular Earth,   
   >> partly through some wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey events.   
   >   
   > Well, then here’s hoping your desire to explain that outcome   
      
   	I have no additional desire to explain it. I've done so. The details   
   are not any more scientific, merely consistent within their universe --   
   and for a fictional universe, internal consistency is what matters, not   
   consistency with the universe the writer happens to live in.   
      
      
      
   --   
                         Sea Wasp   
                           /^\   
                           ;;;	   
   Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com  Blog:   
   http://seawasp.livejournal.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)