From: "Greg Neyman" <Greg.Neyman@gte.net>
Subject: (whorl) Re: Digest whorl.v009.n039
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 23:45:07 

good points, mantis.  I don't know how to effectively answer them.

I know about L and D chemical configurations, and your point is valid.
theoretically, there is no reason why D-DNA life shouldn't work out.

but about robotic life ... i'm trying to remember the five aspects that
define life ... one is reproduce, one is adapt, but I can't remember the
other three ... anyhoop, it seems to me that terraforming robots will have
to have some adaptation capability, but it will have a fairly low ceiling,
unlike true life, in which adaptability is only limited by the environment
the life is adapting to, maybe one of the other 3 aspects is also NA to
robots ... and if not classified as life forms, perhaps standard ethics
don't apply to them.

as for the rest of your e-mail ... I am completely unabashed at saying I had
absolutely no idea what you were talking about.  no affront intended ... it
could be because I just didn't read the  books you mentioned ... it could be
because too many brain cells have died, and I've crossed the point of no
return in terms of intellectual discourse ... :-) who knows ...

what i'm trying to say is that, if at all possible, I would like a
clarification, one more suited to my potentially diminished capacity :-).

hat
    /\/\     Greg Neyman               Greg.Neyman@gte.net
___/____\___      http://home1.gte.net/web100to/
  |HE  HA|




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