"Ok, what have you got for me this time?"
- Thread starter Demonland
- Start date
One grows crystals (including those used in semiconductors), but they aren't alive. One can, using stem cells, grow living tissues and even simple organs with contemporary technology. In laboratories, bacteria have been used to grow very thin gold and copper wires molecule-by-molecule. Other researchers have used viruses to grow electrodes in batteries. There's nothing silly or stupid about the suggestion of a more advanced culture growing any technological device they desire through a combination of synthetic organics and nano-assembler deposition. That whole "bigger on the inside" aspect suggests some sort of pocket universe, too, and that might need to be grown to sufficient size to fit the interior of a TARDIS.
Stop thinking of Timelords as humans with funny hats. They are an advanced species unquestionably smarter than humans and with a culture that is arguably many, many times older than our own. If they grow a TARDIS, there is already precedent for such an approach to construction today (read Eric Drexler's "Engines of Creation"), and those people have had eons to perfect the approach.
Stop thinking of Timelords as humans with funny hats. They are an advanced species unquestionably smarter than humans and with a culture that is arguably many, many times older than our own. If they grow a TARDIS, there is already precedent for such an approach to construction today (read Eric Drexler's "Engines of Creation"), and those people have had eons to perfect the approach.
I'm not in my most articulate mood at the moment, but I'll try. The Tardis is mostly a machine that was built. This should be obvious. It's got switches and controls and is operated like a machine. If it is alive to some degree, then that would be a factor of its timeness. The eye of harmony or the time vortex, or some of that jargon could imbue it with a sort of aliveness. But the idea that the whole thing's grown is a bit absurd to me.
I don't see the problem. We know nanite technology exists in the Who-verse. Take a few microscopic self-replicating machines, link it to a few organic cels, program it, drop it into its own pocket dimension inside an outer shell where it goes to work 'growing' itself into a semi-organic time and space vehicle.
Seems more reasonable than a bunch of timelords in white robes with soldiering irons working in a tardis factory somewhere.
Seems more reasonable than a bunch of timelords in white robes with soldiering irons working in a tardis factory somewhere.
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I think part of the problem is that the underlying conceit of the Doctor has subtly shifted over the years. He was originally very much like a human, and his time machine didn't seem like something from a very distant future relative to our own tech. The stories told were of machines and aliens easily part of science fiction and fantasy of the day, so the Doctor was, necessarily a bit more earthbound.
Over the decades, he's become more sophisticated. I don't think he's ever been surprised by a science or technology that was beyond him, and as authors brought in more advanced adversaries, the Doctor has become ever more advanced as a result.
In the current run of DW serials, the creators seem content with the idea of technology indistinguishable from magic, and while I'd ordinarily object to such a concept as part of an ongoing affair, Doctor Who manages to keep the dialog engaging and the stories barely plausible enough for me to continue to enjoy the show. That the production values have gone up considerably since the original Built-By-Chimps days only makes the show even more palatable.
I like the Doctor as a demigod. His civilization was too far beyond ours to sufficiently comprehend. A lot of his hi-jinks look like rubber-science/magic simply because he's eons ahead of us and a helluva lot smarter, too. It does make me wonder why he farts around with homo sapiens so much, but then I'm fond of red-spotted newts, myself.
The TARDIS, like that "zany" sonic screwdriver, is a product of crazy gods who know so much that they grow semi-living time machines and stick them inside pocket universes for fun. It's getting on in years, though, and like so many of us shows it's age by not quite working right any longer. There are people, for example, who suffer from incontinence issues and have uncontrollable urges to pee at indiscreet moments. For those patients, there are a range of implantable devices that use electrical stimulation to control such urges. An external gizmo allows the patient to alter the implant's settings through an induction coil. Similar devices exist to block the transmission of sporadic nerve impulses in victims of chronic pain. Over time, the Doctor has done similar things to the control room of the TARDIS, grafting on bits of scavenged technology to compensate for original mechanisms that no longer work quite right.
Over the decades, he's become more sophisticated. I don't think he's ever been surprised by a science or technology that was beyond him, and as authors brought in more advanced adversaries, the Doctor has become ever more advanced as a result.
In the current run of DW serials, the creators seem content with the idea of technology indistinguishable from magic, and while I'd ordinarily object to such a concept as part of an ongoing affair, Doctor Who manages to keep the dialog engaging and the stories barely plausible enough for me to continue to enjoy the show. That the production values have gone up considerably since the original Built-By-Chimps days only makes the show even more palatable.
I like the Doctor as a demigod. His civilization was too far beyond ours to sufficiently comprehend. A lot of his hi-jinks look like rubber-science/magic simply because he's eons ahead of us and a helluva lot smarter, too. It does make me wonder why he farts around with homo sapiens so much, but then I'm fond of red-spotted newts, myself.
The TARDIS, like that "zany" sonic screwdriver, is a product of crazy gods who know so much that they grow semi-living time machines and stick them inside pocket universes for fun. It's getting on in years, though, and like so many of us shows it's age by not quite working right any longer. There are people, for example, who suffer from incontinence issues and have uncontrollable urges to pee at indiscreet moments. For those patients, there are a range of implantable devices that use electrical stimulation to control such urges. An external gizmo allows the patient to alter the implant's settings through an induction coil. Similar devices exist to block the transmission of sporadic nerve impulses in victims of chronic pain. Over time, the Doctor has done similar things to the control room of the TARDIS, grafting on bits of scavenged technology to compensate for original mechanisms that no longer work quite right.
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I'm not sure anyone is saying the whole thing is grown...
Let's take a different tack(pardon the pun)...
A carriage is not grown. It is a machine (after a fashion) it has wheels, and an axle and maybe even a brake and gears...
It also cannot move very far without having a living organism harnessed to it, namely a horse.
Trouble-maker.
They weren't TARDIS'. They were SIDRAT's.
I like this thinking.
As for he organic-technical thoughts... in sci fi we're seen loads of cybernetic orginisms. The Borg, for example. The TARDIS could very likely be a creature that is grown, then adapted technologically to fit it's purpose.
But in honesty, the less the audience knows, the better. It retains a bit of mystery to throw in a weird concept every now and then... telepathic connection, grown in a field, alive, machine, wallpaper... explaining it would be dull and kill the that mystery.
Unless you give it an engine.
That doesn't seem very nice.
True, but you'd have to redesign it somewhat
I guess what I'm thinking is that maybe in order to time travel you need a living organism, you might bolt machinery onto it but the machinery is useless without the lifeform.
As someone stated, we are dealing with a highly advanced technology here. I don't find it hard to beleive they can grow technology (though I doubt its in a field, more likely in a lab!)
To alter an apt phrase: any sufficiently advanced machine would be indistinguishable from an organism. There is no reason the TARDIS shouldn't have the ability to reason, to be self-aware, to self-repair and self replicate, and do all the other things that organisms are able to do. Adding on a few creature comforts and controls for the passengers shouldn't lessen that. It makes little difference if it was a creature captured and harnessed, or one altered to suit their needs, or one designed from the ground up.
