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Bud Brewster
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
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 Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2023 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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Excellent thinking, Wayne!
It occurs to me that the bipedal Martian food animals might have been genetically engineered by the Martians, based on what they observed here on Earth with probes which sent back info.
After all, they look like fat turkeys!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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tmlindsey
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Joined: 18 Jul 2022
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| Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 10:13 am Post subject: |
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| Bud Brewster wrote: | ....
After all, they look like fat turkeys! |
 #bodyshaming
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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| Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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Hey, I'm criticizing the poor guy! I think he looks delicious! 
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958) |
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orzel-w
Galactic Ambassador
Joined: 19 Sep 2014
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| Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Bud Brewster wrote: | | Hey, I'm criticizing the poor guy! I think he looks delicious! |
"...not..."?
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...or not...
WayneO
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2023 1:35 pm Post subject: |
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Seriously, if that creature wasn't bred as a food animal, then God didn't make little green apples, and it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Maurice
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| Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2023 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Bud Brewster wrote: |
I know Wells does say that in the book, David, but an advanced race . . . that never discovered the wheel? Is that even possible?
That would mean there'd be no cogs in their machines. They've never had wind mills or water wheels (although on Mars they probably wouldn't be useful anyway).
There would be no winches for lifting objects or transferring kinetic energy.
And it just seems highly unlikely that the Martians never realized that circular objects and spherical objects were easily moved around — thus suggesting the concept of the wheel. |
I guess that depends on what we mean by "the wheel".
Lots of civilizations had wheels for different uses (for weaving or pottery, etc.) but didn't stick them on axles to make carts or chariots or Ferarris or what have you. Terrain limits things a lot. A wheeled vehicle's no good in many environments, particulary where building roads to operate them is difficult.
Even if you can build roads, as was done all over Mesoamerica, the are other factors. If you don't have strong enough domesticated animals available, wheeled vehicles aren't always practical. No oxen and horses in the Americas til Europeans brought them over. And beasts of burden — even small ones like llamas — are often more practical for moving goods and people in many situations.
Furthermore, if Schiaparelli had been right in identifying some sixty distinct "Canali" on Mars, and those were waterways per Percival Lowell, the Martians might have just used water transport. You don't need a railroad when you can just float a barge down a river. You just need that "first and last mile" transportation at each end.
So, if Welles' Mars wasn't vehicular wheel-friendly, had canals, etc., then maybe the Martians didn't invent wheeled transportation prior to reaching a certain technological level, by which point they had invented other solutions that led to their walking machines.
Here's a fun video about the challenges of making a wheeled vehicle:
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