Episode: 19 Xenogenesis - Dawn: IV: The Training Floor Chapters 1 & 2

Show Notes

In Episode 19, Richard and Michael discuss the first two chapters of part 4: Training Floor.

Timestamps

00:00:32 - Intro
00:02:21 - The earliest tangent - Golden Bridge painting
00:03:00 - “Mandalorian” green-screen is not the way
00:04:15 - Chapter 1 predictions
00:05:30 - Chapter 1 summary begins
00:06:20 - Why you shouldn’t touch trees in an tropical forest [1, 2]
00:08:00 - Why you shouldn’t step on a fallen tree in a tropical forest
00:08:37 - First penicillin patient [3, 4]
00:11:00 - Spiders in space [5, 6]
00:14:40 - Back to the summary
00:16:16 - The wishful thinking of Oankali-human mixing
00:20:23 - We would prefer no mosquitoes
00:21:52 - Brazillian Nut Tree [7]
00:23:33 - The symbiosis between species in any environment is important [8, 9]
00:27:38 - Situation of Curt and Gabriel, and what would happen if they tried to swim down the river
00:31:05 - What would happen, if Oankali used the tropical room to wake up the humans
00:33:03 - Chapter 1 ends
00:33:23 - Negative characteristics of the Oankali
00:37:03 - Chapter 2 predictions
00:38:28 - Chapter 2 summary begins
00:39:46 - Locking away weapons is important
00:45:45 - We hypothesise how could we figure out we are on a spaceship [10 - 12]
00:57:51 - Back to Chapter 2
01:00:01 - Would aliens know of fossil fuels?
01:00:57 - The book tells us what and why will happen to Curt (Chapter 2 ends)
01:06:38 - The big problem that Oankali don’t understand
01:20:11 - Special episode announcement
01:26:28 - Chapter 3 predictions
01:26:53 - Outro

References

Danger from tropical trees:

• [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchineel - Manchineel tree.
• [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hura_crepitans - Sandbox tree.

The first penicillin patient:

• [3] https://mosaicscience.com/story/penicillin-first-patient-history-albert-alexander-AMR-DRI/ - The story of Constable Albert Alexander.
• [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin - History of Penicillin

First spiders in space:

• [5] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/spider - Spiders in space.
• [6] http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v4_n2/JoA_v4_p115_grey.pdf - Original paper on the spider space.

Brazillian Nut Tree:

• [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_nut#Reproduction - Article on the reproduction of the nut tree.

Importance of balanced ecosystem:

• [8] https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem - Re-introduction of wolves into the Yellowstone Park and return of balance.
• [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign - The extermination of sparrows by Chinese and the disasterous famine because of it.

Can you figure out that you are on a spaceship?

• [10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_force - Coriolis effect that Richard mentioned.
• [11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_spectroscopy - Spectral lines of stars.
• [12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_Level_experiment - Curvature of the Earth experiment.

Intro: L’Etoile danse (Pt. 1) by Meydan Outro: Long Way Home by Spinning Ratio

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