Do you guys think that there are still species that hang around humans as pests? I ask because it seems like the books say that transhumanity has such a mastery over its own environment that it could/would control exactly the ecosystem of a habitat rather than allow such pasts to exist. More than that, they seem easily capable of eliminating them.
Now I don't imagine you've still got regular rats running around. If you did have pests existing without deliberate introduction, what types might they be?
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Pests among the Stars
Thu, 2015-01-22 16:32
#1
Pests among the Stars
Thu, 2015-01-22 18:48
#2
There are a couple of
There are a couple of situations where pests are noted. On Mars, there's talk of "wild artificial", mechanical drones or bots which have run wild with incomplete or damaged programming, doing whatever. Biobrug district of Noctis-Qianjao has suffered from some land piranha outbreaks. And on Luna, in places like Erato where they have a high volume of open space and nature parks, they have things like Macaques (I think) running loose, noted as pest animals. Swarm Cats might be considered a pest, and Poisonous Marmoset Swarms definitely are (thanks Genehackers).
The thing about pests is that unless something was deliberately placed or generated in an environment, there's no call for it to be there. To my knowledge, rats don't get on space ships. Assuming you're doing any kind of decent customs, that should probably have stayed reasonably into the transhuman future. Even in the chaos of the Fall, unless someone was dragging a rat-filled suitcase onto the transports desperately leaving Earth, pest animals wouldn't be lining up to get onto spacecraft. So most of your "pest" situations will be genehacking or other animal preservation efforts running loose. Somebody makes a Spider with vacuum sealing, or a Moth with a plasma sail or something and it gets out or is deliberately released, you might get pest populations. Technically, if it spreads from an origin point, that might be a not deliberate introduction, but still given the security concerns of the Post Fall world, most places who have the means to support live pest animals probably have tight enough security to prevent them being accidentally brought from somewhere else. Wild Artificials can be pests, but hopefully aren't self-replicating.
So basically, in some big places who have a lot of greenspace or other decent replication of a biosphere might have some imported animals which end up running loose and developing pest habits (Monkeys, Rats, Space Pigeons, etc.). Otherwise, probably going to get a lot of genehacked odd-ball creatures which are transgenetic or neogenetic who get out. Like Landsharks or Space Tarantulas, or Polymer-Eating Vacuum Moths or the terrifying SPACE WASPS or whatever.
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H-Rep: An EP Homebrew Blog
http://ephrep.blogspot.com/
Fri, 2015-01-23 02:26
#3
UnitOmega wrote:Somebody
Those actually sound really cool...
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In other words, firing off a laser with a sufficient TWR for the recoil to be noticeable would require a post-miracle-tech laser weighing less than a disposable plastic spoon and powerful enough to shoot down Death Stars? -- ShadowDragon8685
Fri, 2015-01-23 10:29
#4
Pest control is very easy
Pest control is very easy between nanites and bioengineered killing machines :P
Fri, 2015-01-23 12:06
#5
Bursting Eagerness Soul wrote
It's all fun and games until you accidentally get a flock of Vacuum Moths who try and eat your Vacsuit.
And don't get me started on the guy who decided that Space Tarantulas weren't cool enough so he put in BTX2 glands.
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H-Rep: An EP Homebrew Blog
http://ephrep.blogspot.com/
Fri, 2015-01-23 20:09
#6
UnitOmega wrote:Bursting
Can you imagine how awesome and setting defining that would be for players though?!
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In other words, firing off a laser with a sufficient TWR for the recoil to be noticeable would require a post-miracle-tech laser weighing less than a disposable plastic spoon and powerful enough to shoot down Death Stars? -- ShadowDragon8685
Fri, 2015-01-23 23:37
#7
Bursting Eagerness Soul wrote
Well, technically, I think that's what Poisonous Marmoset Swarms are for, but yes, an outbreak of amphibious piranhas or horrible space wasps would probably be pretty interesting.
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H-Rep: An EP Homebrew Blog
http://ephrep.blogspot.com/
Sat, 2015-01-24 00:17
#8
Partial Ecosystems
I would wager that most "pests" are on the microscopic/fungal level, as any macrofauna or macroflora could be dealt with systematically by automated systems. But there's always a place where there might be a cluster of something lichen- or mildew-like still holding out -- could even be dormant on the side of a spaceship until it hits the atmosphere of Venus or suchlike.
Tue, 2015-01-27 06:37
#9
Next time someone starts up a
Next time someone starts up a "Problems With Anarchism" thread, I am pointing at this thread and laughing.
I'm also having flashbacks to the South American Spiderwasps from Sliders S1E6:
TV Announcer - "With a wingspan reaching up to a foot, barbed stingers filled with venom and an immunity to pesticides, spiderwasps are yet to be slowed."
Arturo - "I think we better get indoors".
TV Announcer - "And thier ability to eat through walls renders most buidings extremely vunerable to attack!"
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In the past we've had to compensate for weaknesses, finding quick solutions that only benefit a few.
But what if we never need to feel weak or morally conflicted again?
Tue, 2015-02-03 17:28
#10
Remember, we can eliminate
Remember, we can eliminate most pests right now! The question isn't 'can we', but 'how much does it cost'. Once a pest is free on a habitat, remediation may be very, very energy- and space-demanding.
Like thepedant mentioned though, you're likely to find that most pests aren't of the rat and roach variety (anarchist habs nonwithstanding), but rather, microscopic. Rots, molds, etc. are still an issue. Unlike rats, they're difficult to search for and they ride on people undetected. And isolated space stations and ships make ideal scenarios for breeding the most hardy strains possible.
Plus you're liable to have virtual pests; AIs and such that have gone free and will copy themselves to unchecked corners of the mesh before they let themselves be extinguished. Bear in mind, we're not talking about virii as such; their goal is not infection or destruction, and they aren't such a nuisance to warrant aggressive hunting. Just little virtual critters determined to survive and smart enough to evade most attempts to stomp them out.
Tue, 2015-02-03 19:35
#11
Digital vermin! With emergent
Digital vermin! With emergent AI and the need to pith them, having digital/AR/VR pests lurking in the unused portions of the mesh makes sense, and would be scary from an exsurgent/TITAN risk perspective.
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Exhuman, and Humanitarian.