Bare Were-Bear Bears Being Bare for Ursi-verse Travel

January 6, 2023 4:30 PM

Bad Space Comics: "In the Flesh". "This is how you explore the universe." (Archive.)
posted by MollyRealized (11 comments total)

This is how you press my buttons. The good ones.
posted by vrakatar at 5:08 PM on January 6, 2023

I think they mean good space comics.
posted by fnerg at 5:52 PM on January 6, 2023 [3 favorites]

These are good, but tend towards the depressing af. Example: Neanderthal Secrets
posted by scruss at 6:46 PM on January 6, 2023 [5 favorites]

I really don't like these comics. I'm having a really hard time stopping reading them.
posted by Spike Glee at 8:21 PM on January 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Hmm. A human nervous system would not fit a polar bear body? You’d want to retain the polar bear nerves and probably the cerebellum and brain stem (?) to operate that body for you. Obviously you want a human cortex at least, and probably more. That combined brain would require changes to the bear skull, which then might sit awkwardly on the bear body. That might be another argument for retaining the bear brain stem, so that the spinal cord naturally runs back instead of down.
How do you wire these brain parts together? I don’t think it can be done manually, even in principle (you’re looking for immensely detailed working correspondences between two unique systems from radically different sources. Analogous functions might well be the only thing they have in common). You might have to let them grow up together from the foetal stage, in which case you’re permanently committed and cannot move over to a human body later. Or perhaps in future there might be a way to persuade neural tissue to rewire itself appropriately (but ‘appropriately’ is doing a heroic amount of work there)?
I’d welcome comment from anyone who actually knows what they’re talking about…
posted by Phanx at 12:48 AM on January 7, 2023

As for exploring the universe, the explorer has completely failed to collect any data or samples or photographs, instead only learning how things smell and taste and how terribly impractical it is to be a polar bear in that particular environment, although they handle low Earth temperatures well. The robotic ship that picks her up probably provides more useful data.

But it's an awesome sci-fi concept and I'd love to see it in a first-person novel.
posted by mmoncur at 1:27 AM on January 7, 2023

Given the post title, I was hoping/expecting something along the lines of Rhabarberbarbera
posted by BWA at 5:18 AM on January 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

Oh very nice. I'll definitely be reading more of these.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 9:28 AM on January 7, 2023

“As for exploring the universe, the explorer has completely failed to collect any data or samples or photographs, instead only learning how things smell and taste and how terribly impractical it is to be a polar bear in that particular environment, although they handle low Earth temperatures well.”

I mean, the prerequisites for the implicit technology is advanced — it's probably not just genetic engineering.

Even if it is, a sufficiently advanced purely biological system could trivially store all the data you're talking about. If you're that adept at genetic engineering, you'd very likely genetically engineer a bunch of IT-inspired structures and processes for that data.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:45 PM on January 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

I suppose that's true but on the other hand I feel like a society that advanced would have robots that can do this job way better than people.

On the other hand, as a future "space tourism" concept... mind-blowing.
posted by mmoncur at 7:23 AM on January 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

The content isn't really for me, but the post title is an all-timer. I salute you.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:17 AM on January 10, 2023 [1 favorite]