Week 1
- orientation
- class overview
- instructions and rules
- whats expected during the semester and deliverables at end
- wiki explained
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TOPIC - ENVIRONMENTS: "WHERE" will we live?
For this course, "environment" can mean an internal, external, or imaginary place. I.e. a planet other than earth (be specific - is it dry, marshy, hot,cold, etc.), or a man-made environment in space, inside a volcano, inside the mind of a famous scientist or artist, inside a biological cell, etc. etc. etc. You final project has to be documented, but it does not have to be "real". You can design a self-replicating habitat for instance, that crosses the Bering Straight as it replicates. ________________________________________________________________________
Assignments:
- Research an environment that you think might interest you for building self-replicating habitats. Make a journal entry before next class about your research and the thoughts it provoked.. what challenges would you like to deal with. Challenges would take the form of conditions, such as the conditions of gravity and weightlessness in space. See, for example, "Artificial Gravity and the Architecture of Orbital Habitats" by Theodore W. Hall http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/artificial_gravity_and_the_architecture_of_orbital_habitats.shtml. Bear in mind, these conditions can be conditions in an imagined environment.....
EVERYONE should read everyone else's journal entries before the next class. That's how you will get to know who you may want to colalborate with.
- Read: Go Forth and Replicate http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Go_Forth_and_Replicate.pdf
Robotics, Genetic Engineering & Nanotechnology http://www.nhne.com/misc/foodbilljoy.html