05-22-2023, 11:10 PM
Hi There - Welcome to OA
Please feel free to join in on any discussions that may interest you or start new ones if you wish. If you have any questions or concerns about the OA setting or the wider project, please feel free to ask.
Regarding your specific post below...
You start out by saying that an 'omnicyte' is one cell, but then describe it as possessing muscular arms and various other other features. Muscles, teeth, lungs, etc. are all multi-cellular structures made up of millions or billions of cells and are all much much larger than a single cell. How are you going to implement these kinds of structures in a single cell?
Also, while generalization has its place, speciallization is almost certainly going to do better at any given function. So while it might be possible to engineer some kind of cell or multi-cellular construct that can generalize it would likely run into various situations where it would not perform as well as a system of specialized organs or devices working together.
'Storing memories genetically' sounds cool and is an SF trope that is used here and there but I'm not aware of any evidence that the term actually means anything. If you mean storing memories in some sort of biological equivalent to a hard drive or via DNA data storage/molecular memory (which is a real thing and has been done in the lab IIRC), then sure.
That all said, if you're concentrating all that in a specific organ, all you're really doing is creating a different organ that can be damaged or destroyed by those who know it exists and where to aim for it. Of by sufficiently violent accident, I suppose. Increased redundancy, but not unlimited or even necessarily all that much greater depending on circumstances.
Waste heat would still be a factor and a limitation on this sort of thing. Possibly even a much larger factor since the increased complexity of the cells (or 'cells' since again, it's not clear how this is supposed to work as described without lots of cells being involved) would likely require much more effort to grow them (with greater energy input to btw - how is a person/entity using this supposed to power the process?). Cooking oneself to death while healing super fast is probably not desirable.
Please provide real world citations and references to support this assertion. Links to online versions are preferred, but we are also OK with hardcopy sources if sufficient information is provided to allow us to potentially track the source down and review it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts above. We look forward to hearing your response to the points raised here. And once again - Welcome to OA!
Todd
Administrator - Orion's Arm Universe Project
Please feel free to join in on any discussions that may interest you or start new ones if you wish. If you have any questions or concerns about the OA setting or the wider project, please feel free to ask.
Regarding your specific post below...
(05-22-2023, 07:56 AM)Sovereignpotato Wrote: If made out of omnicytes, yes to a degree. Omnicytes are one cell the performs all functions. They have multiple muscular arms for attachment and a triple cell membrane with limpet teeth like scales in the middle membrane. The whole body is a bone a muscle a nervous system and able to shapeshift. A viscoelastic fluid is the extracellular fluid they all reside in. It stores nutrients and helps to absorb blunt force. They have a body wide lung shaped like blood vessels for rapid delivery of oxygen and also as a fantastic coolant system.
You start out by saying that an 'omnicyte' is one cell, but then describe it as possessing muscular arms and various other other features. Muscles, teeth, lungs, etc. are all multi-cellular structures made up of millions or billions of cells and are all much much larger than a single cell. How are you going to implement these kinds of structures in a single cell?
Also, while generalization has its place, speciallization is almost certainly going to do better at any given function. So while it might be possible to engineer some kind of cell or multi-cellular construct that can generalize it would likely run into various situations where it would not perform as well as a system of specialized organs or devices working together.
(05-22-2023, 07:56 AM)Sovereignpotato Wrote: The cells link up like origami. Bones are denser and rigid, muscles interweaved for application of force, etc. Little cilia on the skin allow colorshifting via structural coloration. The brain has to maintain a specific shape for the neural network, but long term memories can be stored genetically. Not in the genome, but an extra cellular organ that translates memories for high data storage and redundancy Incase the brain is damaged.
'Storing memories genetically' sounds cool and is an SF trope that is used here and there but I'm not aware of any evidence that the term actually means anything. If you mean storing memories in some sort of biological equivalent to a hard drive or via DNA data storage/molecular memory (which is a real thing and has been done in the lab IIRC), then sure.
That all said, if you're concentrating all that in a specific organ, all you're really doing is creating a different organ that can be damaged or destroyed by those who know it exists and where to aim for it. Of by sufficiently violent accident, I suppose. Increased redundancy, but not unlimited or even necessarily all that much greater depending on circumstances.
(05-22-2023, 07:56 AM)Sovereignpotato Wrote: A being like this could appear to have wolverine like regeneration by having damaged cells move inward and healthy cells move out and link up. Actual cell replication can have a doubling time faster then human cells but slower then bacteria due to omnicyte complexity.
Waste heat would still be a factor and a limitation on this sort of thing. Possibly even a much larger factor since the increased complexity of the cells (or 'cells' since again, it's not clear how this is supposed to work as described without lots of cells being involved) would likely require much more effort to grow them (with greater energy input to btw - how is a person/entity using this supposed to power the process?). Cooking oneself to death while healing super fast is probably not desirable.
(05-22-2023, 07:56 AM)Sovereignpotato Wrote: This is hard science. There is nothing theoretical about it. It is a fact that the above can exist if properly designed.
Please provide real world citations and references to support this assertion. Links to online versions are preferred, but we are also OK with hardcopy sources if sufficient information is provided to allow us to potentially track the source down and review it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts above. We look forward to hearing your response to the points raised here. And once again - Welcome to OA!
Todd
Administrator - Orion's Arm Universe Project
Introverts of the World - Unite! Separately....In our own homes.