On Tuesday 30 July 2013 14:10, David wrote:
> Why not trilateral? Quadralateral?
I wasn't excluding them but rather pointing out that bilateral symmetry is a
likely trait to encounter, and one that would be involved in the most 'human'
of the things we might encounter.
Although there are reasons to expect that bilateral will be the most common
type of symmetry for terrestrial and avian creatures.
> I agree that humans are conceited; they've had 10,000 years or more to grow
> into the belief that they are the greatest (and only intelligent) species
> in the Universe.
"Author's conceit" doesn't refer to ego. It's when an author simply declares
that something unlikely has happened in order to make a setting more to his
liking.
For example: In Kenneth Tam's _New World Empire_ stories, the British Empire
never got involved in what we would know as WWI[1]. However, he took the
Newfoundland Regiment having earned the 'Royal' appellation through other
actions as a conceit in order for his story to be about the b'ys of the RNR.
[1] Partly due to having other priorities related to the divergence that were
more important than the Continent. Partly due to Germany being unwilling to
drag a much larger than OTL British _and_ American army into things by
attacking Belgium.
--
Chakat Firepaw - Inventor & Scientist (Mad)
Received on Thu Aug 01 2013 - 00:55:28 CDT