dailyprompt – Page 2 – John Vincent

What If We Brought Back a Dinosaur?

Daily writing prompt

If you could bring back one dinosaur, which one would it be?

Let’s just say that the dino that I’d bring back, time machine permitting, would be the biggest vegetarian that ever existed. It would be downright irresponsible to bring back a meat-eater. Haven’t we seen enough excitable movies on the theme of what can go wrong? The last genetic recreation humanity needs is one that would like to eat us.

If reptilian brains had advanced as fast as homo sapiens maybe the world would be dramatically different. Still, they had several hundred million years, and they wasted the lot. Thus, there’s not much to fear when faced with a large slow-moving vegetarian.

As the planet warms, so there will be more habitable regions where big plodding 40-ton dinos can do some good. A spectacle for sure. And a way to reshape landscapes. Driving evolution in the wilderness.

Here’s a crazy thought. The permafrost in Siberia is melting. Carbon is being released into the atmosphere. That’s not good. Let loose a lot of ultra-heavy dinos across such a wilderness. Feeding on the forests. Fertilising the forests. Equally compressing and churning up the soil. That might keep some of the carbon locked up.

Lusotitan monsters[1] wouldn’t threaten humanity. They might be an asset as well as being fascinating. Large herbivores exist today. We might value them more in the sight of a large dino lumbering across the terrain.

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0ll5jcv

Absolutely!

Daily writing prompt

List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.

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For some obscure reason my mind goes immediately to René Magritte. A painter who knew how to play with reality and illusion. “This is not a pipe.” A painting is not a pipe, but rather an image of a pipe. So, why not say so.

I could say that there is nothing that we can be totally certain about. Afterall, some deep thinkers imagine that we live in a simulation where nothing is real. Personally, I don’t go with that theory. It’s absurd in the sense that the next question becomes – who made the simulation? And for them, could they not be part of a greater simulation? That would create a Russian doll set that would go on to infinity. And we all have a problem with infinity.

Let me go for 10 things that I think to be certain within the bounds of my limited knowledge.

My name. It gets used by those I met. Documents have it well recorded. My parents were consistent in using it. So, I’ll say that it certainly is John.
Earth. The existence of the planet where I live. The ground beneath my feet. The physical mass that generates enough gravity to keep me here.
Water. Now, I’m listing the four classical elements (Earth, water, air and fire). I depend on them every day. To walk, to drink, to breath, to keep warm in winter.
Air.
Fire.
Space. A generic name for the huge expanse beyond the Earth. Even with no personal experience of Space, I’m certain that it exists. Its precise nature is another matter.
Food. The existence of which sustains me. Without it I’d perish.
My senses. My five senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
My size and shape. Measurements taken and recorded. Hight, weight and a proliferation of other dimensions. Not that they are static.
My emotions. Facts aside, so many likes and dislikes, engage, distract, motivate and repel with such consistency that their existence cannot be denied.

Having produced this fine list, I will now press the big red button marked do not press. Is there any reason why I shouldn’t engage the infinite improbability drive?

Discovering Tomorrow

Daily writing prompt

What are you most excited about for the future?

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As an engineering guy who’s made a living out of technology (mostly aerospace) you may think that I’d pipe-up with the super shiny stuff that fills the pages of WIRED[1]. I know that’s a media brand but it’s a mighty strange name in a time when traditional wiring is falling out of fashion. My high-speed INTERNET gets to me by light.

Technology is an enabler. It’s not the answer. I’m not going to get terribly excited about “1” and “0” or even qubits[2]. Technology is a means to an end. Yes, it is transformative. We are where we are because of it. Technology opens possibilities.

I’m excited about ideas. It will be a light blub moment or years of hard work that will bring about the step changes that may make life in the future unrecognisable from today. Being a glass is half full thinker, I’m excited about how the human imagination will flourish in the future. I don’t see a dark sky and a dystopia of brainy robots marshalling us around. Even with our accumulated knowledge we are mostly ignorant about how the universe works. Be excited about the future because there’s so much to discover.

[1] https://www.wired.com/

[2] https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/quantum-computing

Music Genres

Daily writing prompt

What is your favorite genre of music?

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One way I could throw out a “smart” answer is to say – the one that hasn’t been coined yet. Let’s face it, going back a decade and more the list of categories was far smaller than it is today.

Why? It could be fusion. Where two types of music are fused to create a new one. It could be pure invention. It could be sounds in nature that we suddenly “discover”.

The audible spectrum for most people may not reach the highest frequencies that a good pair of speakers can handle but the range is there for an almost infinite combination of frequencies. Then there’s timing. Let’s just say that the potential of new sounds is still there despite the proliferation of different types of music.

Maybe my answer should centre around what’s on my phone. I’m predictable. It’s rock.

Long view

What are you most worried about for the future?

Our inclination to think of time without perspective. Short term mentality is an enemy. The thought that big problems are fixed by a wave of the hand is a human weakness. Attractive propositions are easily accepted even if their result is merely to delay or avoid the action that’s needed. Nature runs on longer timescales than our news cycles. If we are to have a future we need to take the tough road now and then.

It’s green

Daily writing prompt

What’s the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten?

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Taste is not a fixed sense. It mingles and matches other senses. Taste and smell always seem to go together. What’s delicious is more than nice. It must have a distinct context. Appearance comes into the equation too. What was delicious is a shorthand description of an embedded memory. A memory of a sensation.

My offering is a sweltering hot day. Really hot and dry. A Sicilian piazza and a desperate need for ice cream. If there is better pistachio flavoured ice-cream on the global, I’d like to taste it. Sitting in the shade in Catania[1] my spoon scooped up something special.

[1]https://www.visitsicily.info/en/localita/catania/

Shiny silver

Daily writing prompt

If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?

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If I remember righty, it’s a Seinfeld routine: in the future everyone will be wearing the same outfit. That shiny silver clothing so beloved of pulp fiction comics and SiFi series. Alien races will only ever see humans as being wrapped in tight body suites.

Except for the static burns occurring when brushing swiftly across a nylon carpet, I’d go for the crew of Alpha. That’s Space 1999[1] for those who missed the plywood sets of 1980’s TV. They seemed to have a dress code that made best use of their limited resources on the Moon.

A light grey Commander John Koenig outfit would be future proof.

[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072564/

F2F with a machine

Daily writing prompt

Describe one of your favorite moments.

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Coming face to face with a Cyberman. It’s walking towards me. The crowd is clearing. I’m directly in its path. It’s got an evil stare. A dramatic sound fills the air. I don’t want to be converted into a mindless machine. Help!

Hang on. I’m standing on the floor of the Royal Albert Hall in London. It’s full to the brim with excited people. It’s hot. It’s August. How did this happen to me?

To make sense of this I can see an orchestra on stage pounding out a science fiction theme. Yes, I’m at the Doctor Who BBC Prom[1] a year ago. That was fun moment. Quite a few in fact.

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e5drn3

Strolling

Daily writing prompt

What notable things happened today?

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Mr fox strolled intently across the green field. Apologies, if in fact it’s a Mrs fox that I saw in the early morning light. His was a deliberate, nonchalant stroll. Knowing that tuffs of high grass and reeds provided cover. A stop, quick look around, and then onward. No reason to hurry.

From my window, this was not the first time I’ve seen a fox on his first light stroll. In the bright morning sunlight, there was a sheen coming off his coat. This was clearly a healthy fox. Agile, slender and strong. Unlike shy, less fit town foxes that I’ve seen wandering gardens. No scavenging from waste bins for this smart fellow.

It crossed my mind that prey must be plentiful at this time of year. Later in the day a pack of geese graze this unkempt wet land. Mixing with the Dexters. I’ve seen goslings waddling along behind their parents. Now, I suspect there are fewer of them to waddle.

Key Ingredients

Daily writing prompt

What are the most important things needed to live a good life?

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Let’s say that the rudimentary basics are already at hand. Air, water and food are right at the top of the pyramid of needs. If that’s all that was available to me huddling in my damp cave, a good life it certainly wouldn’t be.

I was going to go to Roman times and quote Cicero: “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need”. With that one I think it would be reasonable to expand “garden” to mean the whole of the natural world. A garden’s gifts, a variety of plentiful decent sustenance. Not just beans and potatoes.

Next to satisfy the intellect. A library, in the conventional sense, sitting here in the digital 21^st Century, isn’t enough. But do I really want to say – INTERNET access? This is too worthy.

Cut to the chase. There is no good life without fun. That meaningless, pointless, misdirection of effort for no other reason than it’s fun. Difficult to define universal fun. So, what’s needed is the freedom to do whatever it is that amuses and entertains (within civilised boundaries).