I didn't see one _hint_ of an "explanation" of the zombies. All we saw was a scientist guy trying to figure it out and getting nowhere. We know he calls the presumed zombie pathogen "Wildfire" and that's about it.

@3in1Doctor: Exactly what I was thinking. In particular, the economics of colony-Mars is... bizarre and interesting and plausible.

Speed Racer kicked ass. Anyone who says otherwise has a factually incorrect opinion.

@zslane: Unfortunately, we simply have no way to judge the probability of extraterrestrial visitation. Sure, you can do some things like run an approximation of the Drake equation, but even that doesn't tell you anything about how likely it is for visitation to occur. A lot of people use the vast distances involved…

@zslane: Eh, Occam's Razor is useful in trying to determine which of two hypotheses to test first. It does _not_ tell you which hypothesis to "believe" — the fact is, improbable things do happen sometimes.

The proximate cause discussion was interesting, especially since I had just seen this week's House, M.D., wherein the Doc spends a fair bit talking about how humans are hard-wired to see causal responsibilities even when none exist.

@Torrent Phades: He might be a great guy, and he's a heck of a movie-maker, but.... that scarf and `stache combo just SCREAM "Punch me! Punch me in the face! Repeatedly!".

@Dyn: Motion seconded.

Also, the cool little air-pocket inside lets the farmers just dump the berries down what's basically a staircase, and only the ripe ones (with the fully formed and still intact bubble) would be bouncy enough to make it to the bottom. It's a particularly simple and elegant sorting mechanism made possible by the…

Heh. When I was a kid, I always got a kick outta taking a glass of water, sticking in a (old-style incandescent) light-bulb such that all the metal was under water, and microwaving it. They would light up most prettily. (You'd want a higher wattage bulb as it lasts longer. There's a lot of transient current spikes in…

@squall987: Only if you assume no intelligence will ever act on genes. Which, frankly, is already incorrect. Once we start changing our genome per our desires, there's gonna be a HECK of a lot of change in the way people look.

@Mikekearn has an overly long username: That's a hell of an assumption. I'm 34 right now. If I live another 40 years, that's 40 years of medical research. By the time I'm 70 we may well have prolonged life until much later. Then it's just a question of "Is life extension getting better by more than one year a year?"…

@Death_By_SnuSnu: No no! Please - go on! I am greatly interested in other intelligent opinions on the subject.

@Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: Indeed! But... 40 years ago, did you have reason to think it related to the ancient astronaut hypothesis? I mean, ACTUAL reason, other than "I don't know how to do that with stoneage knowledge?"

"Will we recognize humans in 500 years?" To quote Admiral Patrick: "That's a stupid question!"

@Death_By_SnuSnu: I'm not understanding why you think we'd look substantially similar after 500 years. Do you REALLY think that furries and catgirls wouldn't come outta the closet like lice once an injection could make them look like they feel?

@jamesryan: THANK you. That hits on much of what I was gonna say, and I'm glad I took the time to read the rest of the comments.

@Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: Maybe he was being racist, or maybe he published his stuff 40 years ago and more archeology has come to light in the intervening time. He never seemed to be saying that on, say, the History channel. I don't know the man and can't really judge.

I assumed Rush was Scott's spiritual adviser, from the strange fever dreams he had a few episodes back.

@Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: Um... no. The Ancient Astronaut crowd point to a lot of european and asian sites as being evidence for their hypothesis.