Will life imitate art?

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chrisuk

Will life imitate art?

Post by chrisuk »

I've always had an interest in Syfi - and when I was a young man, I read and watched just about everything I could get my hands on. It just so happens that I remember (well, vaguely) the first ever episode of a TV series by the name of Doomwatch. I even remember the title of the episode: "The Plastic Eaters".

Bearing the above in mind, I found the following news story interesting ;)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43783631
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Moem
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Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by Moem »

What's 'syfi'? Is that a variant of 'sci-fi' or science fiction?
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BenTrabetere
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Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by BenTrabetere »

chrisuk wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:45 am Bearing the above in mind, I found the following news story interesting ;)
Both stories, news and DoomWatch, are interesting. Fortunately, 'plastic eating' is the only thing they have in common. The plastic eater in the news story is an enzyme. Everything I have read about it indicates it is not a self-replicating enzyme, so it should not be a good candidate for plastopocalypse.
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Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by thx-1138 »

chrisuk wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:45 am .........................
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43783631
...Run - Don't Walk... :D
chrisuk

Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by chrisuk »

Moem wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:52 am What's 'syfi'? Is that a variant of 'sci-fi' or science fiction?
Yeah, just another science fiction abbreviation... or maybe a typo ;)
BenTrabetere wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:55 am
chrisuk wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:45 am Bearing the above in mind, I found the following news story interesting ;)
Both stories, news and DoomWatch, are interesting. Fortunately, 'plastic eating' is the only thing they have in common. The plastic eater in the news story is an enzyme. Everything I have read about it indicates it is not a self-replicating enzyme, so it should not be a good candidate for plastopocalypse.
Well, " not a self-replicating enzyme" ATM - but they're not happy at the degradation rate, so will try to make the enzyme more efficient... that's when it might get a bit "iffy" ;)
chrisuk

Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by chrisuk »

thx-1138 wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 10:01 am
chrisuk wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:45 am .........................
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43783631
...Run - Don't Walk... :D

Yep, it will get us some day (that film gave me nightmares at the time) ;)
chrisuk

Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by chrisuk »

For those that can't find it, here's the aforementioned episode synopsis:
S1, Ep1
9 Feb. 1970
The Plastic Eaters
7.6 (14)
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A plane dissolves in mid-air, its plastic components eaten away. Doomwatch faces its first challenge: to halt the disastrous spread of a man-made virus with the power to melt all plastic.
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Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by thx-1138 »

...it appears it was reworked into an actual novel (author being involved in Dr.Who series as well):
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/418959.Kit_Pedler
Will try to score a copy of the episode online...

Personally, I'm a bit hesitant believing 'as is' that they discovered such 'accidentally' into the dumpster...
For some reason, it sounds to me more like "we developed it in the test lab via a well-funded research program but people will accept it's widespread usage much easier if we present it to them in a Nature-created-it-in-the-first-place manner"...
Of course, i might just be plain wrong and oversuspicious (i don't and obviously couldn't possibly have the slightest scientific proof for such a claim).
On the whole though, the fact that sci-fi dystopia scenarios have seriously increased in number in the last decades is rather indicative...ie. i'd certainly prefer it if scientists worked a bit more on such 'trust' issues instead of presenting us one morning with the...prequel of The Blob... :)
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Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by JerryF »

Moem wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:52 am What's 'syfi'? Is that a variant of 'sci-fi' or science fiction?
I think Chris is incorporating part of the title of a TV channel that's available here in the U.S. called 'SyFy'.
chrisuk

Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by chrisuk »

thx-1138 wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:16 am ...it appears it was reworked into an actual novel (author being involved in Dr.Who series as well):
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/418959.Kit_Pedler
Will try to score a copy of the episode online...

Personally, I'm a bit hesitant believing 'as is' that they discovered such 'accidentally' into the dumpster...
For some reason, it sounds to me more like "we developed it in the test lab via a well-funded research program but people will accept it's widespread usage much easier if we present it to them in a Nature-created-it-in-the-first-place manner"...
Of course, i might just be plain wrong and oversuspicious (i don't and obviously couldn't possibly have the slightest scientific proof for such a claim).
On the whole though, the fact that sci-fi dystopia scenarios have seriously increased in number in the last decades is rather indicative...ie. i'd certainly prefer it if scientists worked a bit more on such 'trust' issues instead of presenting us one morning with the...prequel of The Blob... :)
So the scientists can't claim their idea/find to be original... science fiction thought of it first ;)

And I'm many years older now, so a Blob 2 might not give me nightmares... or it might ;)
chrisuk

Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by chrisuk »

JerryF wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:45 am
Moem wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:52 am What's 'syfi'? Is that a variant of 'sci-fi' or science fiction?
I think Chris is incorporating part of the title of a TV channel that's available here in the U.S. called 'SyFy'.
I've a long list of things that I do each day without good reason, Jerry, this was one of them ;)
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Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by JerryF »

chrisuk wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:55 am
JerryF wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:45 am
Moem wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:52 am What's 'syfi'? Is that a variant of 'sci-fi' or science fiction?
I think Chris is incorporating part of the title of a TV channel that's available here in the U.S. called 'SyFy'.
I've a long list of things that I do each day without good reason, Jerry, this was one of them ;)
:lol:
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Re: Will life imitate art?

Post by lsemmens »

Sci-Fi has a lot to answer for, much of what was then fiction, is now fact.
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