On Thu, 13 Feb 2003, Mark A Mandel wrote: > On Tue, 11 Feb 2003, Philip Hart wrote: > > #Don't know about you, but I suspect the average guy would feel a bit, umm, > #inadequate for a seven-foot-tall woman. > b) Neither Miles nor Vlad is an average guy. I believe this was in the context of a statement from an average guy to some others (using "average" in the "randomly-selected" sense) which could be interpreted as implying that he identifies with Vlad and finds Teldra desirable and hence would like them to have hook up. Hence my reply that I (using "average guy" in its sense of "one" - the English "one" - for distancing) find this idea hard to identify with. > # On the other hand > #that was before the whole Ds-are-evolved-humans thing comes out. > > Nitpick: modified, not evolved. Evolution isn't just the way hippos turned to whales - it can be "directed" - i.e., the J were the selection pressure. Whether one refers to planned intervention in the gene code without subsequent competition (not the way I imagine the J worked to first order) as "evolution" is perhaps a matter of taste. Note that Darwin used the phrase "modification with descent" in describing the theory. Also note that as I've claimed before the Ds (especially the nobility) seem to be under a great deal of selection pressure (especially lately) due to their violence and experiments with nuclear weapons I mean antimatter I mean Elder Sorcery. - Philip