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Elements the Game => Level 1 - Crucible => Card Ideas and Art => Crucible Archive => Topic started by: moomoose on December 06, 2011, 02:22:16 am

Title: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: moomoose on December 06, 2011, 02:22:16 am
(http://i.imgur.com/Gf2Yg.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/QbxjR.png)
NAME:
Abiogenesis
ELEMENT:
Life
COST:
4 :life
TYPE:
Permanent
ATK|HP:
TEXT:
:gravity :gravity :gravity : Generation
Target pillar becomes a creature of its element

NAME:
Abiogenesis
ELEMENT:
Life
COST:
4 :life
TYPE:
Permanent
ATK|HP:
TEXT:
:entropy :entropy :entropy : Evolution
Target pillar becomes a creature of its element with a random skill or status
ART:
elements the game
IDEA:
moomoose
NOTES:
The chance for any given creature to be generated is weighted by the cost of the card, so more expensive costing cards will be less likely to be generated per application than the cheaper cards.
"the unupped/upped status of the created creature matches that of the pillar/tower it was used on, the same as Nymph's Tears"

In this game, gravity was associated with order and entropy with disorder, the basic card orders the card to be a normal, basic creature.  The upgraded card utilizes entropy to alter the creature while producing it.

Abiogenesis is the study of how biological life arises from inorganic matter through natural processes, and the method by which life on Earth arose.
SERIES:
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: dragonsdemesne on December 06, 2011, 02:31:35 am
This is a neat card!  A few points/questions, though:

1) What happens if it's used on a quantum pillar/tower?  A random creature from any element, or a creature from Other?  (none of which currently exist yet)
2) Can it be used on pendulums/mark cards?
3) Can it create nymphs?  I'd vote for no, so as not to mess with Nymph's Tears' turf.
4) I'm assuming the unupped/upped status of the created creature matches that of the pillar/tower it was used on, the same as Nymph's Tears

Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: Naesala on December 06, 2011, 02:52:44 am
Why does the unupped use gravity?
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: OldTrees on December 06, 2011, 03:00:58 am
The name of the upped card should change if possible. Evolution and Abiogenesis are separate.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: dragonsdemesne on December 06, 2011, 03:02:19 am
Why does the unupped use gravity?
1) because he explained gravity=order and entropy=chaos  ;)
2) because it's cooler and more creative that way
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: Naesala on December 06, 2011, 03:08:39 am
I understand what he said, but it still doesn't make sense. The resulting card is a random one of the element. life isnt orderly. and neither generation nor evolution fit gravity.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: Rutarete on December 06, 2011, 03:12:12 am
I understand what he said, but it still doesn't make sense. The resulting card is a random one of the element. life isnt orderly. and neither generation nor evolution fit gravity. That doesn't mean it can't.
<-- Not for nor against  :gravity and  :entropy
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: darkrobe on December 06, 2011, 03:15:56 am
As stated previously. I like the idea of pillars turning into creatures and creatures into pillars. I therefore like this card.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: moomoose on December 06, 2011, 03:21:39 am
1) What happens if it's used on a quantum pillar/tower?  A random creature from any element, or a creature from Other?  (none of which currently exist yet)
a random creature is produced
2) Can it be used on pendulums/mark cards?
can nymphs tears?
3) Can it create nymphs?  I'd vote for no, so as not to mess with Nymph's Tears' turf.
could go either way, but considering nymphs are high cost, the chances would be low if it did
4) I'm assuming the unupped/upped status of the created creature matches that of the pillar/tower it was used on, the same as Nymph's Tears
yep, good call, i neglected that inclusion of that note, but had intended to have it in there
5) I understand what he said, but it still doesn't make sense. The resulting card is a random one of the element. life isnt orderly. and neither generation nor evolution fit gravity.
abiogenesis is taking non-living and making it living, life is very, very ordered relative to non-living.  in the medical field we are trying very hard to figure out all of the regulations that are necessary within biology. -and i am not trying to fit gravity to evolution.  check the cards again.
6) The name of the upped card should change if possible. Evolution and Abiogenesis are separate.
agreed, was the best term i could think of at this point.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: Naesala on December 06, 2011, 03:46:09 am
5) I understand what he said, but it still doesn't make sense. The resulting card is a random one of the element. life isnt orderly. and neither generation nor evolution fit gravity.
abiogenesis is taking non-living and making it living, life is very, very ordered relative to non-living.  in the medical field we are trying very hard to figure out all of the regulations that are necessary within biology. -and i am not trying to fit gravity to evolution.  check the cards again.
I can see the cards, i read the notes. your point is you're taking something non alive and making into a (random) living creature. I know that if you look hard you can find patterns and regularity, and even create working parts for something already living, but order doesnt create life. If everything were orderly, everything would be dead (the Auditors from terry pratchett at least support that idea). Anyways, my point is I dont think gravity in Elements is capable or should be allowed to create life from something not alive. Thats making something chaotic (entropy) or making something live (life) or animating something non alive (death...or air, according to animate weapon).

Maybe, maybe if it made it into the same specific creature each time, i could find it in me to say it was gravity because some very orderly reconstruction is done to make the same creature. But its random, which pushes me even further away from gravity.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: moomoose on December 06, 2011, 03:56:30 am
keep in mind this is a duo card, the life element is incorporated in the design and the theme.  if this were a mono-gravity card, i would agree with you that it needs to incorporate :life in order to fit.  but :life is there, so it does fit.

and the reason i told you to reread the card is because "life isnt orderly. and neither generation nor evolution fit gravity."  and i never tried to make evolution fit gravity.

and the randomness is mostly limited, it is taking the element of the pillar and producing a creature from that distinct subset, sort of like building with the materials you have in front of you.  think of it like this- a building can be made from many distinct materials, and from those same materials can be made into many different formations.  that does not make them not ordered.

not to mention the decision of which creature is created is based on calculations, rather than an equal opportunity, so i wouldnt call it random at all.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: ElementalDearWatson on December 08, 2011, 11:22:18 am
I would agree that in real life  :gravity wouldn't be a good fit for the unupped card, but in this game  :gravity is the opposite of  :entropy. One of the main arguments against evolution trotted out by Creationists is that the Second Law Of Thermodynamics (or, at least, the truncated version they misquote) doesn't permit life to evolve by natural means. Or, in other words, entropy disallows evolution.  And it's true that evolution acts in opposition to entropy, although it doesn't make it impossible (obviously).  So, within the thematics of the game,  :gravity is actually a good fit as being an agent of evolution.

 The elements aren't perfect fits for what they represent -  entropy and antimatter are not the same thing at all, yet Antimatter the card is  :entropy.   There's no reason why  :gravity cannot be order.  I can think of no other element which fits the idea of order, and order is in opposition to entropy making  :gravity, as the opposite of  :entropy, the logical choice.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: OldTrees on December 08, 2011, 05:07:37 pm
I would agree that in real life  :gravity wouldn't be a good fit for the unupped card, but in this game  :gravity is the opposite of  :entropy. One of the main arguments against evolution trotted out by Creationists is that the Second Law Of Thermodynamics (or, at least, the truncated version they misquote) doesn't permit life to evolve by natural means. Or, in other words, entropy disallows evolution.  And it's true that evolution acts in opposition to entropy, although it doesn't make it impossible (obviously).  So, within the thematics of the game,  :gravity is actually a good fit as being an agent of evolution.

 The elements aren't perfect fits for what they represent -  entropy and antimatter are not the same thing at all, yet Antimatter the card is  :entropy.   There's no reason why  :gravity cannot be order.  I can think of no other element which fits the idea of order, and order is in opposition to entropy making  :gravity, as the opposite of  :entropy, the logical choice.
Except that argument is refuted. The entropy of a CLOSED system will tend to increase. Once you remember to include the energy from the sun in the system you will note that Evolution obeys the Second Law to a T.

While Abiogenesis and Evolution are separate, they are not opposites.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: moomoose on December 08, 2011, 05:18:47 pm
im not going to be too concerned with opposites and whatnot, the idea is that gravity is associated with order, entropy with randomness, the gravity portion of the card creates a well-defined creature (creatures as is, already in game), while the entropy portion makes a less-defined creature (creature with a random skill/status).  still havent thought of a better term than evolution.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: ElementalDearWatson on December 08, 2011, 05:35:44 pm
Except that argument is refuted. The entropy of a CLOSED system will tend to increase. Once you remember to include the energy from the sun in the system you will note that Evolution obeys the Second Law to a T.
I didn't mean to imply that the Creationists' argument was right.  That's why I explicitly stated that they misquoted and truncated the Second Law of Thermodynamics.  The point is that in the world of this game order falls under Gravity and chaos falls under Entropy.  Evolution is an ordering of nature (in the short term, the solar system itself is a closed system and entropy will eventually win out and all life in the solar system will die), so using  :gravity and  :life for Abiogenesis does make sense within the context of the game, even if it would not in the real world.

Quote
While Abiogenesis and Evolution are separate, they are not opposites.
I didn't imply they were.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: OldTrees on December 08, 2011, 06:45:50 pm
Except that argument is refuted. The entropy of a CLOSED system will tend to increase. Once you remember to include the energy from the sun in the system you will note that Evolution obeys the Second Law to a T.
I didn't mean to imply that the Creationists' argument was right.  That's why I explicitly stated that they misquoted and truncated the Second Law of Thermodynamics.  The point is that in the world of this game order falls under Gravity and chaos falls under Entropy.  Evolution is an ordering of nature (in the short term, the solar system itself is a closed system and entropy will eventually win out and all life in the solar system will die), so using  :gravity and  :life for Abiogenesis does make sense within the context of the game, even if it would not in the real world.
Evolution without added energy is entropic. Evolution with added energy and noticing the source of the energy is entropic. In both cases the process of Evolution is entropic. This should be obvious by the trend towards increased biodiversity rather than less biodiversity.

Order has 2 meanings. Order vs Entropy and Order vs Chaos. These dimensions are perpendicular to each other. In EtG Gravity is related to the first type of Order. Entropy can be chaotic or not. Gravity can be chaotic or not.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: ElementalDearWatson on December 08, 2011, 07:12:20 pm
In both cases the process of Evolution is entropic. This should be obvious by the trend towards increased biodiversity rather than less biodiversity.
That's a good point.  I suppose we should be making the distinction between evolution and abiogenesis.  I'd agree that evolution is entropic, but I think you'd have to make a particularly persuasive case to get me to agree that abiogenesis is.

Quote
Order has 2 meanings. Order vs Entropy and Order vs Chaos. These dimensions are perpendicular to each other. In EtG Gravity is related to the first type of Order. Entropy can be chaotic or not. Gravity can be chaotic or not.
This may be true in reality, but in this game Entropy is firmly in the camp of chaos.  Just look at how many  :entropy cards involve randomness or, in a more general way, involve concepts from quantum physics which have nothing to do with entropy, but which are associated by the way that quantum physics and chaos theory are connected in the public consciousness.  The only exception to this I can think of is Fractal being  :aether
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: OldTrees on December 08, 2011, 08:44:59 pm
In both cases the process of Evolution is entropic. This should be obvious by the trend towards increased biodiversity rather than less biodiversity.
That's a good point.  I suppose we should be making the distinction between evolution and abiogenesis.  I'd agree that evolution is entropic, but I think you'd have to make a particularly persuasive case to get me to agree that abiogenesis is.
A plasma membrane is less ordered than a soup of H2O and amphipathic lipids. Entropy favors the creation of lipid bilayer vesicles. Should I go on?
Quote
Quote
Order has 2 meanings. Order vs Entropy and Order vs Chaos. These dimensions are perpendicular to each other. In EtG Gravity is related to the first type of Order. Entropy can be chaotic or not. Gravity can be chaotic or not.
This may be true in reality, but in this game Entropy is firmly in the camp of chaos.  Just look at how many  :entropy cards involve randomness or, in a more general way, involve concepts from quantum physics which have nothing to do with entropy, but which are associated by the way that quantum physics and chaos theory are connected in the public consciousness.  The only exception to this I can think of is Fractal being  :aether
Nova, Antimatter, Maxwell's demon. In science Entropy does not always appear chaotic. The same is evident in the Entropy cards. Chaos usually increases Entropy thus many chaotic effects will be found in Entropy. This makes chaos a sub theme but is not a sufficient argument for Entropy not having a primary theme of Entropy.

I find the way people associate Chaos with the scientific concept or the element to be virtually indistinguishable. Most would not believe that Nova increases disorder despite having no chaos involved. [1 card split into 1 quanta of each type] This intuition is flawed in a similar way to our intuitions about plasma membranes (see above).
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: ElementalDearWatson on December 08, 2011, 09:08:04 pm
A plasma membrane is less ordered than a soup of H2O and amphipathic lipids. Entropy favors the creation of lipid bilayer vesicles. Should I go on?
A plasma membrane is not a life form.  If you do believe you can make a good case for a life form being less ordered than a soup of any kind, then please do. 

Quote
This makes chaos a sub theme but is not a sufficient argument for Entropy not having a primary theme of Entropy.
I have not argued that Entropy is not the primary theme of  :entropy.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: ElementalDearWatson on December 08, 2011, 09:17:09 pm
Enewei, is it just me or has this all gone rather off-topic?  We should probably get back to discussing the card itself, rather than how real-world science does or does not apply to the fiction of the game.  Not least because it doesn't matter because it's fictional and the elements can do whatever zanz decides they can, and the real world can go hang.
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: OldTrees on December 08, 2011, 09:57:52 pm
Both Abiogenesis and Evolution are entropically favored and you do not seem opposed to Entropy being the primary theme of  :entropy.
I have not argued that Entropy is not the primary theme of  :entropy.
Off topic:
Entropic abiogenesis
Plasma membranes form spontaneously due to increased entropy
Larger vesicles grow by stealing lipids
Currents can cause vesicles to divide into multiple smaller vesicles
Monomers can easily pass through the membrane
Polymers cannot easily pass through the membrane
Monomers are in an equilibrium between being attached or separate from a polymer
Polymers in vesicles are heritable
Polymers of RNA can give vesicles characteristics
This soup has entropically favored entities that grow, reproduce, and have agenetic code. Protolife or Life?

On topic:
What average value of creature will/should this create?
Title: Re: Abiogenesis | Abiogenesis
Post by: moomoose on December 08, 2011, 11:15:59 pm
the creatures created will depend on the element, and the creatures within the element.  basic :life for example:
10 dragon
1 rustler
3 scorpion
3 kfc
9 nymph
2 frog
2 spectre
_ 30 total

invert the cost/total
dragon = 30/10 = 3
rustler= 30/1 = 30
scorpion= 30/3 = 10
nymph = 30/9 = 3.3
kfc = 30/3 = 10
frog = 30/2=15
specre=30/2=15
new total = 86.3

now simply divide the inverted cost with the new total for the % of a given creature
dragon 3/86.3= 2.4%
rustler= 30/86.3 = 34.7%
scorpion= 10/86.3= 11.5%
nymph = 3.3/86.3=3.8%
kfc = 10/86.3 = 11.5%
frog = 15/86.3=17.3%
specre=15/86.3=17.3%
(a few rounding errors, but generally correct)

so 1/3 of the time, roughly, youll get a rustler for more than its normal cost. so its not that useful for life pillars, it seems.  would be better applied to gravity, probably, as it tends to have larger cost creatures (and bigger hp creatures for catapult fodder).  but for the upgraded, its probably more about getting random skills than anything else.
blarg: