Wait — is that mountain really three miles high? Or has some mysterious alien force squeezed the rest of Ceres down three miles?

Neat graphic, can someone tie this into world hunger and population growth? http://io9.com/this-is-where-…

No kidding! The so called “good ol’ days” are nothing but wishful thinking, because fact is, the world of today is the best ever for humankind.

Every time I see a story like this it makes me remember to be thankful for the world I live in now. For all its problems it is infinitely better than one in which I might have lived instead. Thank you.

Sigh, looked in comments for the obligatory, tongue-in-cheek joke about the flaming faggots...

Well, yes. If the nation’s survival isn’t involved, the scientific and economic benefits of building a signifigant presence on the moon wouldn’t even begin to approach the cost of doing so.

I’m going to refrain from making any easy jokes about releasing seeds and just leave you with a picture and #teamIvy. You fill in your own innuendo.

That would depend on:
1) The number of people on the Moon colony (at least 50-60 for a continuing population with sufficient genetic health)
2) The sustainability of that colony (long term, ~100 years)
3) The ability for the “Lunarians” (or other space-living humans) to successfully cope with the psychological…

Sputnik sent shockwaves through American society; I was there. Putting it in orbit meant they could reach, and bomb, any point on earth with virtually no warning. We were already worried to death about a Russian nuclear attack by manned bomber, and now there’s this ominous, unknown, strange Russian thing beeping over…

The ant doesn't have to decide anything. Nature can simply select those traits and program for them the same way you jerk your hand away from a hot stove without thinking about it.

Happens literally all the time.

Kamikazi, suicide bombers, suicide mission, taking a bullet, diving on a grenade, the citation lists of almost every bronze star and MOH, a mother defending children, a teacher defending students, the women of the French resistance, or the OSS, this could be a much longer list - we get it, no worries.

Aren’t we muddying the waters a bit by using the word “consciousness” here though? I fully grant swarm and hive intelligence can be very sophisticated and it can learn from changes in environments but are these learned changes passed on to other swarms?

often sacrificing their lives in extraordinarily selfless ways to save the colony

I don't really see why this suggests a higher abstraction in their brain. Couldn't you write a few lines of code to do the same thing?

1. It’s not likely aimed at the “average consumer”.
2. While there certainly are millions like you, there are also millions not like you. Don’t assume you’re representative of the whole. It’s not like they’re launching this on a hunch that it *might* be popular.

“As a gamer who has no intention of ever moving into PC gaming”

Are those really the examples you want to go with? Okay...I mean, I am interested (though if there’s anything I’ve learned from the last 20 years of Ridley Scott, I probably shouldn’t be). I have to say, the trailer feels as though it was cut by the same person who did the trailer for Prometheus.

Eh... I knew the Titanic sunk and that Apollo 13 made it back okay and both of those films were still compelling.

They went the full plot synopsis on that one, didn’t they?