Crick and Watson
The discovery of the DNA double helix is an example of a creative collaboration with what Asimov described as the necessary conditions for success. "First and foremost, there must be ease, relaxation, and a general sense of permissiveness." When Crick and Watson met, they soon discovered that they shared a common interest in discovering the molecular basis of heredity. They had almost daily play sessions during which they discussed their shared obsession even though it was a project that they were not being paid to work on and at one point they were actually forbidden to keep working on it. Asimov: "The great ideas came as side issues."
The idea that some specific arrangement of atoms inside cells can hold the instructions for how to make a human being was one of the great ideas of the early 20th century. Watson and Crick were in love with that idea and tantalized by the possibility that a technique existed (x-ray crystallography) that would soon provide key structural data about the genetic molecule. Since the mid-40s evidence suggested that DNA was the genetic molecule, but there was reason to fear that "solving the structure" of DNA might be difficult. Crick knew just how hard it was to determine the structures of protein molecules, which are each much smaller than a DNA strand in a human chromosome.
John Houbolt |
Houbolt and Dolan
1961 |
Eventually, after the feasibility of docking between spaceship modules was proven, Dolan's vision of a light weight and disposable lunar lander was adopted by NASA, allowing a single Saturn 5 rocket launch to accomplish the goal of sending a man to the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.
2009 cover art by Gordon Van Gelder |
Even in 2009, a romantic depiction of a spacecraft on the Moon still included a streamlined rocket, not a clunky Lunar Excursion Module.
Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) |
Werner von Braun had spent years dreaming of how to accomplish interplanetary travel and, ultimately, he was grateful to those who, like Houbolt and Dolan, had the creative vision to bring modularity and disposability to the problem. Asimov: "It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable."
1960 Werner von Braun's fantasy |
At the heart of Asimov's specifications for creative success is really a rather simple formula: allow a small team of collaborators to freely explore possibilities and play with ideas. However, more often than not, such a collaborating team will go down a blind alley and fall in love with a self-created fantasy. You really need multiple teams if you hope to have a good chance of finding optimal solutions to tricky problems.
The Atlantis Clones: Anna, Hilde, Anney, Angela. |
As told in the Exode Trilogy, in the late 20th century there were multiple teams of aliens secretly at work on Earth. One group founded Space Energy Missions. They worked to prepare for the arrival of the Buld and planned to make use of hierion technology to meet Earth's need for energy and put an end to fossil fuel use. Another secret group was the Atlantis Clones.
According to Anney, the Space Energy Missions plan for how to save Earth from global warming, ice cap melting and catastrophic sea level rise was, ultimately, an Interventionist fantasy. Anney compares the idea of providing Earthlings with hierion technology to "helping" a tribe of chimps in Africa by giving them access to nuclear power plant technology.
The first (and only?) Buld on Earth |
Anney says that her big sister Anna abandoned Earth and went off on the Buld spaceship with the Interventionists. Anna, who was the first of the clones, had apparently been working (in secret) with Hilde for many years in support of the Space Energy Missions plan. Anney never knew her sister Hilde except through contacts with her replicoid in the Hierion Domain. Like Anna, Hilde eventually saw the arrival of the Buld spaceship and First Contact as an opportunity to escape from Earth. Why stay here if there was no way to prevent Earth from sinking into environmental catastrophe?
To the left is Anna, center is Peter. The alien is Lili. (source) |
I finally got Anney to open up a little about the self-doubt and concerns that the Dead Widowers have. They fear that at least some of their members are living on Earth in violation of the Trysta-Grean Pact. Anney has given that as the reason why she is trying to groom me to access the Hierion Domain: the Dead Widowers might have to depart from Earth. For now they are "laying low", avoiding Overseer attention and trying not to get kicked off of Earth.
Maintenance Dose
Space Energy Missions |
In passing, I mentioned that I've also been experiencing odd changes in my olfaction. Anney now admits that this is another side effect of the nicotine derivative, a generally unimportant one because of how little humans depend on olfaction. However, these alterations in my olfactory system been increasingly distracting and now that I realize it is an effect of the drug, perhaps understandably so, in retrospect.
source |
image credits |
The Dead Collaboration
I've been allowed some limited insight into the way that the Dead Widowers collaborate. However, my hunch is that their efforts to collaborate have been disrupted by Resh^Ki, who Anney views as a spy, a kind of double agent who infiltrated the group. I won't suggest that because of Resh^Ki's shenanegans the Dead Widowers have lost their ability to trust their colleagues, but I sense that a free, open and playful exchange of information and ideas is no longer possible for that group. The tension of the Time Travel War has been replaced by something new, a new kind of battle field where people like Angela can suddenly disappear, leaving their colleagues with nothing but doubts and suspicions.
Related: go to the Moon (photographs)
visit the Gallery of Posters |
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