S01.E04: The Human Strain/S01.E05 Keeping The Faith

[CooperTV]

Quote

Back-to-Back episodes on Wednesday, August 2:

“The Human Strain” – In order to prove to Harris and Grace that he’s not a traitor, Darius must reveal one of his most closely guarded secrets. Also, Liam helps Jillian adjust to her new job at Tanz;

“Keeping the Faith” – While Darius works to discover who killed his friend Lazlo (Aaron Poole), he is forced to reckon with his past, and Liam discovers who’s been selling secrets to the Russians.

Promos

[shapeshifter]

I assume doubling up on episodes means the show is on life support, just waiting for the network execs to pull the plug, but for me, two back-to-back episodes enhanced both. 

Regarding the preview next week: 

Spoiler

Holy moley, Batman! It's Walternate!

Edited August 3, 2017 by shapeshifter

[dangwoodchucks]

The Russians taking the EMF so easily made the government and Darius' security look like the Keystone cops, plus, Liam basically rescued himself. He really is the only likable character for me. 

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, dangwoodchucks said:

The Russians taking the EMF so easily made the government and Darius' security look like the Keystone cops, plus, Liam basically rescued himself. He really is the only likable character for me. 

My problem with Liam is that he is no more realistic than those Keystone Cops (great analogy, BTW). I mean he was just kidnapped, discovered his mentor was a psycho willing to sell his soul for fame, shot said psycho mentor in a dual to the death (how did he even know how to shoot a gun?), and just keeps on running and thinking of ways to save the world like a barefoot Energizer Bunny. 
I'm not sure what it is about the show that makes me want to take it more seriously than Sharknado or Zoo — maybe the background music or the lack of shark attacks — but it's floundering under the weight of its earnestness.

[shrewd.buddha]

After the first of the two episodes, I realized I don't care about the fate of 'humanity'  - - I only want Darius to fail spectacularly in every conceivable way. His god complex makes him more of a villain than a savior to me. Who would what such a self-centered lying douche on a survival mission to Mars? He would never tell anyone what was actually happening because he  thinks only the smartest people deserve to know his secrets -- and he doesn't consider anyone on Earth to be his equal. 

And don't get me started on the my-boyfriend-got-me-a-job girl. Her  "you've got smarts but I've got heart" speech just rubbed me the wrong way. 

Things I'm not buying into:
   No one knows about Darius' spaceship ... because he is having it built by robots in a hidden underground bunker?
  No other country on Earth has the astronomy capabilities to detect that a giant asteroid is on a collision course with the planet? Wouldn't it become more obvious as time passes and the asteroid comes closer? 

As someone mentioned in a earlier episode thread - every episode is a slight variation of the the same theme : Darius being shady, Federal Agent Lady Grace learns something new, tries to decide who to believe. Federal Agent Man Harris exercises his Federal Agent powers while keeping his own secrets. College kid has some eureka moment followed by frustration. 
...These people really don't deserve to survive as representatives of humanity.

Edited August 3, 2017 by shrewd.buddha

[Driad]

Irritating cliche’ of the week: “Two Cultures.” I know plenty of techie people. They also play music, create art, help oppressed minorities, help the environment, etc.

Leftover: Jupiter is between 35 and 52 light-minutes from Earth, depending on relative orbital positions. If we send a signal and wait for a reply, it takes an hour or two, not a few seconds.

[whiporee]

Didn't make it through first episode all the way. I'll try again tonight if Rachel Maddow is still on vacation. 

But ...

1) Darius is going to have a really hard time launching something that heavy, and a nearly impossible time moving it to a launch pad without roads. Also, looked pretty darn small for 160 people out lives on. 

 2) Did they ever mention the runned over reporter? Or just let that drop?

3) The conversation about who to save was INCREDIBLY stupid and inane. Plus, no one ever is that condescending to another human being anywhere but the movies. 

4) Are we expected to believe that ... someone in the government would actually torture one of the richest people in the world without repercussions? Really? 

And that was from 40 minutes of watching. 

[dangwoodchucks]

1 hour ago, whiporee said:

Didn't make it through first episode all the way. I'll try again tonight if Rachel Maddow is still on vacation. 

 

 2) Did they ever mention the runned over reporter? Or just let that drop?

 

She was in the second episode, unfortunately. She left the hospital with a bandage on her forehead and the next day (?) she had barely a mark showing. I  care so little about her and her storyline that I don't even know her name.

 

I LOL'd at Liam taking out two bad guys and then shooting at the plane, also at the "Hello Darius" following Grace around Tanz Industries when she had his RFID.

[AV8n]

I was thinking they'd say that the Russians had figured out the asteroid was coming on their own. At least that would have had some plausibility, since they do okay in math and science :-)

Sorry, Jillian, the chosen 160 would have to be true renaissance men and women, adept in both arts and sciences. You may be a fine singer or interpretive dancer, but you better know how to turn a wrench, too. Likewise, nobody wants to be stuck on a ship or colony with a nerd that has zero social skills. Of course, in reality what would happen is Darius would load Salvation with himself and 159 beautiful yet submissive women, And enough frozen embryos, sperm and eggs to achieve the required genetic diversity. But the ship would never take off, because those left behind would never let it. Everyone would be trying to pull strings to get on board.

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, AV8n said:

Of course, in reality what would happen is Darius would load Salvation with himself and 159 beautiful yet submissive women, And enough frozen embryos, sperm and eggs to achieve the required genetic diversity. But the ship would never take off, because those left behind would never let it. Everyone would be trying to pull strings to get on board.

I was just coming here to post this, 20 men and 140 women plus frozen embryos, sperm and eggs. The weight of one Gutenberg Bible would hold enough human genetic material to meet the diversity quota a million fold and still allow for a Gutenberg Bible on an iPad. Force each woman to have at least 4 children with 2 being implanted and 2 however she wanted to do it. Male/female ratios would balance out quickly unless you want to keep the female population high through embryo selection. The show acts like they are only going to ever send one spaceship off the planet.

[Free]

8 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

My problem with Liam is that he is no more realistic than those Keystone Cops (great analogy, BTW). I mean he was just kidnapped, discovered his mentor was a psycho willing to sell his soul for fame, shot said psycho mentor in a dual to the death (how did he even know how to shoot a gun?), and just keeps on running and thinking of ways to save the world like a barefoot Energizer Bunny. 
I'm not sure what it is about the show that makes me want to take it more seriously than Sharknado or Zoo — maybe the background music or the lack of shark attacks — but it's floundering under the weight of its earnestness.

I think the difference is that Zoo and Sharknado go off the rails bonkers (even though they feel played out at this point).

Salvation tries to take the ridiculous nature of the show seriously by comparison.

[orza]

12 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

I was just coming here to post this, 20 men and 140 women plus frozen embryos, sperm and eggs. The weight of one Gutenberg Bible would hold enough human genetic material to meet the diversity quota a million fold and still allow for a Gutenberg Bible on an iPad. Force each woman to have at least 4 children with 2 being implanted and 2 however she wanted to do it. Male/female ratios would balance out quickly unless you want to keep the female population high through embryo selection. The show acts like they are only going to ever send one spaceship off the planet.

Excuse me? So in other words, turn back the feminism clock for a new society with women as sex objects and brood mares.

Edited August 3, 2017 by orza

[Tallis]

Why would Russia having the technology mean the world is doomed? I mean they are presumably not going to want the earth to get anilhilated by a giant asteroid either so will be using said tech pretty much as the US would. So not great in the political areana but ultimately world saved is good whoever does it.

[AV8n]

Hopefully the professor included a user's manual with the stolen EM drive, considering how he and Liam are the only ones who knew how it works.

I'm assuming Tanz Industries has working artificial womb prototypes, so nobody would be forced to give birth (science fiction loophole). In fact, with such a small number of colonists why risk some dying in childbirth?

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, orza said:

Excuse me? So in other words, turn back the feminism clock for a new society with women as sex objects and brood mares.

The point of the spaceship is to populate a planet, people not working towards that goal shouldn't be part of the mission. If I thought it was possible to grow children outside of a woman's womb, I would have included that as a possibility, but as far as I know, that is not possible. Choose Humanism over Feminism. Since the females greatly outnumber the males, I don't see how feminism would be an issue.

[Dowel Jones]

17 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

Things I'm not buying into:
   No one knows about Darius' spaceship ... because he is having it built by robots in a hidden underground bunker?
  No other country on Earth has the astronomy capabilities to detect that a giant asteroid is on a collision course with the planet? Wouldn't it become more obvious as time passes and the asteroid comes closer? 

1) And who dug the bunker? And ran the electricity?

2)  "Mr. President, I think we need to look at this from a military point of view.  Suppose those Russkies built their own salvation ship, and got to Mars before we did, with 320 people.  They could come out and take over.  Mr. President, we must not allow a spaceship gap!"

I have to laugh at the sanctimoniousness of the woman in charge of the task force.  "Give us back the $2 billion dollars or you're off the group."  "Okay, here's my counteroffer.  You can have the money, but nothing will get done on the EM project.  And, in about 5 months, none of that money, or gold or silver, bitcoin, or whatever means of exchange you choose to trade in, will be worth five pounds of dog dung.   Good luck"

Edited August 4, 2017 by Dowel Jones

[Guest]

6 hours ago, orza said:

Excuse me? So in other words, turn back the feminism clock for a new society with women as sex objects and brood mares.

You and I are together.  Anything else I say would get me a warning point.

[Guest]

Can we please kill the reporter? Pretty please?

[HazelEyes4325]

39 minutes ago, Swim mom said:

Can we please kill the reporter? Pretty please?

My biggest problem with the reporter is that there is just too much going on in this story already and having the media angle just makes things that much more crowded.  Honestly I didn't miss her at all for the episode and half when I thought she was dead.

I think my favorite thing about this show right now is the fact that my husband, who is an engineer and has quite a bit of scientific knowledge, keeps telling me how everything is wrong.

[thuganomics85]

No surprise, Darius had nothing to do with the hack, but it was Croft all along, because he was teaming up with the Russians, because he hates Darius and his ilk, and wanted to be the one to save the day himself.  Nice to know that even with the world at the end, some will still look out for themselves.  Actually, that sadly is realistic it for some.  Anyway, Liam ends up killing him, but the Russians now have the device and all the research, so I guess they're back to square one.

Turns out all the uranium is actually for Darius' little "side project" (dubbed Salvation, naturally), and is still preparing his own "save 160 people" plan, if/when it all goes to shit.  Meanwhile, Jillian finds herself clashing with all of the brainiacs and whatnot in her focus group, because they only care about saving the scientists, doctors, etc., while she argues that artists and creatives people deserve spots to.  I'm sure they could find some who are both.  After-all, Ken Jeong use to be a doctor and Dolph Lundgren has a degree in chemical engineering!

 The whole torture bits, debates, and after-math went the way they always due, although credit where credit is due, Ian Anthony Dale sure knows how to dramatically brood while sitting on the chair that had recently just waterboarded Darius on!

I will easily continue to believe that obnoxious reporter is actually still in high school, because her boss is dumb enough that he easily fell for her "I'm dizzy act!", in order to retrieve the phone he simply tossed in the trashcan (as opposed to destroying it), that I can totally buy she just made her own diploma on Microsoft Paint and Clip Art, and he was just "Well, this is looks kind of odd, but whatever!" about it.

Always good to see Autumn Reeser (Darius' "love that got away"), who is always awesome and always seems to appear on goofy shows that she's probably better then (No Ordinary Family, Last Resort, Hawaii 5-0.)

I see next week they're busting out a big genre favorite in order to kick things up.  We'll see.  

Spoiler

Sure, John Noble is awesome, but even he couldn't save Sleepy Hollow.

[Llywela]

12 hours ago, AV8n said:

Of course, in reality what would happen is Darius would load Salvation with himself and 159 beautiful yet submissive women, And enough frozen embryos, sperm and eggs to achieve the required genetic diversity.

Clearly not, since that is very much not what he is planning - so I guess Darius has more integrity and vision than most here are willing to give him credit for. Which was pretty much the gist of the storyline in these two episodes, in fact, with Grace and Liam discovering exactly that!

I'm enjoying the show. Where most folk here seem only interested in picking the science apart, I couldn't care less about the realism of the science. This is science fiction. All the science in it might have been based on something real, but the writers have taken those real things and created fictionalised versions, and that's good enough for me - because quite frankly, who wants to view a narrative slowed to a snail's pace by realistic lag times, etc? Of course the lag times are going to be eliminated so that the narrative can press forward! I'm not interested in nit-picking that kind of detail. I'd rather take it at face value and let myself be immersed in the story, which is beginning to pick up now that we're beginning to peel layers back on all the characters, which Darius especially very much needed. For the first three episodes we were viewing him almost exclusively through the eyes of people who don't know him well, who weren't sure if they were doing to the right thing by trusting him, and he's such a guarded character all either they or we ever got to see was the public face, never the thought process or emotion behind it. And that was deliberately done for storyline reasons, but with these two episodes we've moved past that stage, we're starting to see the man behind the public face now.

I noticed that Malcolm Croft was very much using his influence over Liam to try to discredit Darius in Liam's eyes (and Liam repeated some of that to Darius's face in episode three) - now that Croft's influence has been removed, Liam will presumably get to know Darius better and be able to judge for himself.

The show seems to want to build a love triangle, with Harris growing suspicious of Grace's attachment to Darius, but I don't see anything romantic in that attachment at this stage - I think she's very frightened and has glommed onto Darius because he offers, in her eyes, the best chance of saving the world, is the only person who seems willing to even try to save the whole world rather than only part of it, and she desperately needs that hope, so she's clinging to Darius as the symbol of that hope.

Interesting to get a few cracks in Harris's hard man persona here, as he first tried to get the interrogation called off and then wanted Darius to know it wasn't him who ordered it to continue. I guess that's his character arc - finding out exactly what lines he is and isn't willing to cross for the perceived greater good.

Also interesting to learn here that Darius is an American citizen and to see that photo of him as a boy with Lazlo and his sister, clearly taken in the US - where did the English accent come from, then, I wonder?

All in all, I'm still very much in for the ride. Yes, the show is far from perfect, but I never thought it would be. So far it is delivering pretty much exactly what I expected. This is bubblegum entertainment. It isn't a show that requires or benefits from interrogation of any kind, so I'm happy to just go with the flow, take it at face value, not poke at any of the holes I see, and just sit back to see where the story takes us.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Llywela

[laserlady]

On 8/3/2017 at 8:01 AM, Driad said:

Irritating cliche’ of the week: “Two Cultures.” I know plenty of techie people. They also play music, create art, help oppressed minorities, help the environment, etc.

Leftover: Jupiter is between 35 and 52 light-minutes from Earth, depending on relative orbital positions. If we send a signal and wait for a reply, it takes an hour or two, not a few seconds.

I was rolling my eyes so much during Snowflake Girl's speech.  Sounds to me like some TV writers trying to justify their existence:  "I may not be smart or know anything useful, but at least I can write poorly thought-through scripts for brainless, implausible TV shows, so I totally deserve a spot next to Albert Einstein  if we're the last hope of survival for the human race."

Seriously, with only 160 spots, you wouldn't be wasting them on some dime-a-dozen self-published author, no matter how much her boyfriend thinks she's a special snowflake.  Most really smart people I know are also quite talented at something artistic -- music, art, writing, or whatever.  It's a false dichotomy.

You'd narrow the field a lot more when you looked at the other things you'd also want for your gene pool -- good athletic abilities, mechanical/practical skills, and really good, healthy genes (i.e., you wouldn't be picking someone whose family members tend to die of heart attacks in their 50s, or who are carrying the genetic markers for breast cancer, etc.).  And you'd also want to pick as diverse of a population as possible, since 160 people is going to create a very serious genetic bottleneck as it is (although AnimeMania's idea of bringing frozen eggs, sperm, and embryos is a really good one).

And then, years later, this spaceship full of the humans with the most genetic potential from the 20/21st century might run into Captain Kirk and -- no, wait, that's the plot of the classic Star Trek episode "Space Seed."  A much better show than this one.

[whiporee]

I had never thought of Darius as Kahn before, but that's awesome. Can't you just see him talking A LOT about the superior mind?

Tonight's big question: Why was Croft talking to Russians about something that hadn't happened yet? He had a direct line to some big shot there, but he didn't know about the asteroid until Liam came to him 10 minutes earlier. Were they financing his EM drive theories? That's a pretty big story jump there, to just assume researchers all have a Russian guy they can call when they've got something big. 

The other one? As a former reporter and editor, there's no reporter or editor who would ever say ever that no story is worth dying for. We'd say they all are worth dying for -- that's the point of a free press. 

[Tallis]

13 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Anyway, Liam ends up killing him, but the Russians now have the device and all the research, so I guess they're back to square one.

  Reveal hidden contents

Sure, John Noble is awesome, but even he couldn't save Sleepy Hollow.

Ah but is he really dead dead? I mean the Russians did make a point of taking his body so maybe he's only a little dead then.

[Guest]

So, we now know that when Salvation takes off, which it will, we are stuck with special snowflake girl and her horrible monologues, and teenage reporter girl. Oh boy! Can't wait! 

[HazelEyes4325]

On 8/2/2017 at 8:28 PM, shapeshifter said:

I assume doubling up on episodes means the show is on life support, just waiting for the network execs to pull the plug, but for me, two back-to-back episodes enhanced both. 

 

Not necessarily.  NBC doubled up episodes for both Trial and Error and Great News and then renewed both of them--of course, those are both sitcoms, which is a slightly different animal.

Even so, I can't see how this would ever be more than a 1 season show.  I mean, the asteroid is coming soon and either it hits the Earth or they find some way to divert it.  I'm not sure how they can keep going once that happens.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Morksmate

[Dowel Jones]

Well, there is another show premiering this fall called Damnation.

[shrewd.buddha]

1 hour ago, Morksmate said:

I mean, the asteroid is coming soon and either it hits the Earth or they find some way to divert it.  I'm not sure how they can keep going once that happens.

I wouldn't be surprised if we are told that only a week of time has passed and the asteroid is still six months away.  It’s sad how TPTB are willing to stretch all logical boundaries to extend a show if the ratings are halfway decent. 

[Guest]

It can easily continue. 160 people get on the Salvation, and blast off. The show follows them.

[CooperTV]

4 hours ago, Swim mom said:

It can easily continue. 160 people get on the Salvation, and blast off. The show follows them.

And in five generations there's a psychic girl and there's 1960s everywhere!

[Llywela]

7 hours ago, Morksmate said:

Not necessarily.  NBC doubled up episodes for both Trial and Error and Great News and then renewed both of them--of course, those are both sitcoms, which is a slightly different animal.

Even so, I can't see how this would ever be more than a 1 season show.  I mean, the asteroid is coming soon and either it hits the Earth or they find some way to divert it.  I'm not sure how they can keep going once that happens.

The writers have said that if they were renewed, the story would continue with the aftermath of whatever happens with the asteroid. How likely it is they'll get a chance to show us what they mean by that, time will tell. But to them, this is not a story about an asteroid hitting Earth, it's a story about people dealing with the threat of an asteroid hitting Earth, so once the asteroid is dealt with, in whatever way, the story about those people continues with the fallout of whatever it is they end up doing to try to save themselves.

Quote

I wouldn't be surprised if we are told that only a week of time has passed and the asteroid is still six months away.  It’s sad how TPTB are willing to stretch all logical boundaries to extend a show if the ratings are halfway decent. 

Pretty sure it's been more than a week in the show's internal universe already.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Llywela

[Free]

12 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

I wouldn't be surprised if we are told that only a week of time has passed and the asteroid is still six months away.  It’s sad how TPTB are willing to stretch all logical boundaries to extend a show if the ratings are halfway decent. 

The ratings aren't half decent, but that would depend on CBS.

As for the series, the premise itself doesn't lend to longevity and we've seen from Under the Dome what happens when you try to stretch it out.

[MissLucas]

On 3.8.2017 at 4:01 PM, Driad said:

Irritating cliche’ of the week: “Two Cultures.” I know plenty of techie people. They also play music, create art, help oppressed minorities, help the environment, etc.

 

What I liked best about Jillian's little outburst was that she was all 'You soulless scientist robots! Don't you see how extremely elitist you are!' Immediately followed by an equally elitist claim and an implied 'To hell with Hufflepuff!'

As for the humanism vs. feminism debate: If you store enough frozen embryos, semen and eggs you really don't need those 20 guys anymore.

Edited August 5, 2017 by MissLucas

[Llywela]

What was really funny about Jillian's little arts v science rant is that we know, although she doesn't, that Darius only really hired her because of Liam.

Jillian and the reporter's sub-plots are the most lightweight so far, but I guess there's time for that to change. And I find it hard to be too severe on a sub-plot that allows two women to have an actual conversation.

[wilnil]

2 hours ago, MissLucas said:

As for the humanism vs. feminism debate: If you store enough frozen embryos, semen and eggs you really don't need those 20 guys anymore.

Well, provided the freezer doesn't break... ;)

[Dowel Jones]

Then you can just set up robots to mix them together in an ultra-efficient matter, followed by a complex system to utilize their bodily energies to power said robots while simultaneously giving the children (through computer programmed artificial reality) the idea that they are already living on Mars.  No need for humans at all!

[MissLucas]

Well, we've invented freezers and we've got the whole travel-to-Mars thing down (theoretically at least). But artificial wombs are still a long way to go (although first steps have been made). Anyhow the whole 'force women to carry children' (which is just another way of saying rape and use them as incubators) is one of the creepiest things I've ever read here and I don't give a damn about 'demographic logistics'. If we haven't evolved enough to get rid of that bs I'll say let the asteroid take care of us.

Edited August 5, 2017 by MissLucas

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, wilnil said:

5 hours ago, MissLucas said:

As for the humanism vs. feminism debate: If you store enough frozen embryos, semen and eggs you really don't need those 20 guys anymore.

Well, provided the freezer doesn't break... ;)

True. It might be nice to have a man around the house—especially on a TV house where I don't have to feed him (although IRL my dad did run the kitchen—unlike the ex who never met a dish he needed to wash). So now I'm picturing season two Darius onboard Salvation in an apron. Sorry. 

Anyway, I have often said that I find it barbaric that we still don't have artifical wombs (survivor of three variously difficult childbirths here—guilty only of giving in to mothering desires--only one replacement child per adult). If this show did get another season, I would love to see artifical wombs used on Salvation to preserve the wellbeing of the mothers.

But how big is the ship? I don't recall them scaling it visually with humans next to it. And does it have artifical gravity to prevent bone loss?

[Guest]

Theoretically, only women interested in carrying babies should be allowed to apply. Likewise, only men willing to do manual labor in addition to mental heavy lifting should be considered. 

[MissLucas]

I may have watched too much of 'The Expanse' - but even the minimal research done on the topic revealed quite a number of problems attached to giving birth in zero g. And since Mars has also a lower gravity than earth those problems would remain an issue after landing. (Not to mention all the other medical problems connected to living in zero or low g.) Someone better whip up that gravity generator ASAP.

 

Quote

Theoretically, only women interested in carrying babies  should be allowed to apply. Likewise, only men willing to do manual labor in addition to mental heavy lifting should be considered. 

So women should not also do some mental heavy lifting? Or maybe they're not capable due to pregnancy brain.

Edited August 6, 2017 by MissLucas

[Dowel Jones]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

But how big is the ship?

One of the two mentioned that they were down 100 meters underground, so that's an approximation of the length of the ship, anyway.  Minus the engines and storage for meals and water for 160 for three years and the rest is what's available for passengers. 

[CooperTV]

6 hours ago, Swim mom said:

Theoretically, only women interested in carrying babies should be allowed to apply. Likewise, only men willing to do manual labor in addition to mental heavy lifting should be considered. 

I'd say that only women who already successfully had children before should be allowed to apply.

[MissLucas]

3 hours ago, CooperTV said:

I'd say that only women who already successfully had children before should be allowed to apply.

In other words mothers who will want to bring along their kids.

[CooperTV]

51 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

In other words mothers who will want to bring along their kids.

More like, the ones who potentially are capable to give birth without complications.

[Guest]

57 minutes ago, CooperTV said:

More like, the ones who potentially are capable to give birth without complications.

Yes, fertility checks first, and only men who have fast swimmers.

[DoubleUTeeEff]

On 8/3/2017 at 1:18 PM, AV8n said:

Sorry, Jillian, the chosen 160 would have to be true renaissance men and women, adept in both arts and sciences. You may be a fine singer or interpretive dancer, but you better know how to turn a wrench, too. Likewise, nobody wants to be stuck on a ship or colony with a nerd that has zero social skills. Of course, in reality what would happen is Darius would load Salvation with himself and 159 beautiful yet submissive women, And enough frozen embryos, sperm and eggs to achieve the required genetic diversity. But the ship would never take off, because those left behind would never let it. Everyone would be trying to pull strings to get on board.

Ha! If it were government-funded (probably by multiple governments, since we're talking end of the world), the 160 people would be scientists/doctors/engineers/botanists each with multiple degrees, and probably a lot of husband and wife couples. If it were privately funded, I would think the spaces would go to the top 160 bidders. Darius wouldn't have enough money to fund it and one rich woman wouldn't be enough, either. But sell tickets for it and you've got yourself a ship!

On 8/3/2017 at 2:56 PM, Tallis said:

Why would Russia having the technology mean the world is doomed? I mean they are presumably not going to want the earth to get anilhilated by a giant asteroid either so will be using said tech pretty much as the US would. So not great in the political areana but ultimately world saved is good whoever does it.

I'm unclear on this point too. I thought the whole point of the EM drive was to get the asteroid to completely miss the earth. The US was planning on moving the asteroid so that it didn't hit the US (like it's current trajectory to hit the eastern side of the US) but make it hit another part of the earth killing 1 billion people. If Russia could stop us from doing that, they could hurt the US in that way. But they didn't steal that capability from the US, they stole the capability to stop the asteroid from impact altogether. Right?

[orza]

Once the asteroid is taken care of the EM drive could be used to knock any foreign communications and surveillance satellites out of orbit at will or putting and keeping their own weapons in orbit. It seems that having exclusive use of such a breakthrough technology would be an strategic advantage in of itself, like having the atomic bomb. It could no doubt be put to other uses or monetized in various ways.

Edited August 7, 2017 by orza

[DoubleUTeeEff]

OK, but they don't have exclusive use since Liam is still alive and knows how to develop the technology.

[vendredi3]

"High treason? I'm not the one who's high here."

"What's the point of saving humanity if we lose ours in the process?"

Seriously, the writing on this show...

[orza]

16 hours ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

OK, but they don't have exclusive use since Liam is still alive and knows how to develop the technology.

Croft wiped all files pertaining to the EM drive so there is nothing for Liam to work with. Starting over from scratch could take a long time. In the mean time the Russians have the technology and can develop it further to maintain their advantage.