Random stream of consciousness...

The discrete nature of genes and alleles is just how things are. It could be determined in the nineteenth century, and it can be confirmed now. However... There might be other potential models of heredity, with the slight disadvantage, so far as serious science goes, that I can't think of a physical substrate that would support them.

What I have in mind is much different from the idea of 'blood'. That would be boring and invalidate evolution. Suppose, instead, that allelic information were somehow encoded in the sum resonances of a harmonic oscillator... Every allele would have an 'anti-allele', and they would combine simply by adding wave-functions. Now, it probably wouldn't be good to accumulate high amplitudes in a given component, so I'm visualizing high amplitudes increasing the odds of mutation to a lower amplitude at a higher frequency (this probably doesn't make physical sense, but it's a matter of allowing infinite scope for 'dumping')

Presumably, specific genes would have their own 'carrier wave' frequency, or something like that. Or perhaps, each gene would be physically located within a scaffolding-type structure that aligns genes for addition.

I haven't thought about this too much, and I'm too sleepy to do more, but I think it's good to think about things that don't exist; you can't look up the answer, so you have to sharpen your intellect.

How I Would Do It: The Matrix

So, I'll admit, up front, that I haven't actually seen any of the movies, making this entire setup more than a little suspect from the get-go. However, people on the internet love to discuss the movies, so I've got a bit to go on. Some of these ideas are taken from Film Forensics.

So, obvious changes: originally, the humans provided computing power instead of electrical power. This obviously makes more sense, and, as the comments there noted, sets up some more interesting conflicts.

The general sentiment there was against the mysticism that apparently pervaded the series like sweat in a locker room, but I think there could be a place for it. Scads of confusing, possibly contradictory symbolism would be fine, as long as it's confined to the Matrix. There just needs to be a way to establish that the original programmers used... interesting naming practices (

marypoppins = ( superman + starship ) / god

And all.)

I'm still a bit giddy from reading The Man Who Was Thursday, so maybe my ideas about the Matrix being regulated by the musings of a bunch of poets in a coffeehouse shouldn't be taken too seriously, but I actually think they make perfect sense.

Because the Matrix seems to be the only sustainable way for people to live in that environment, it makes more sense for the main character's job to be fixing problems rather than tearing down the system.

Had to dig around a bit to find this...

I suppose it isn’t strange
That we’re so attached
To the shells we fall into.

While we’re inside it
We can’t know what it’s like outside,
And if we decide to leave
We can’t climb back out,
So the impatient ones break down the walls.

When they want to tell what it’s like
They find that the shell is gone
And really, they can’t remember where they left it,
Anyway.

So it goes.

And yet... are they truly lost?
Does the hawk return to the egg?
Yet the hawk is definite and real.
And the unborn chicks hear the shrieks of their parents,
And yearn to fly.

We’re not like that.
Not really.

Themes I want to see in stories, at some point.

People decrying the foolishness of trying to make super-strong robot slaves... Because the damn things have so many design compromises to allow them to perform their feats of strength, that they're basically useless. They're made with government contracts, of course.

A setting in which a ruling class of magicians discourages "science", because it's supposed to be opposed to magic. In the end, it turns out that the main effect of this was to discourage innovation in "sciencey" endeavors, which threaten the mages' supremacy. Or something... Point is, the opposition is fundamentally political.

So yeah, posting little dribbles of stuff is pretty neat

Lance's face paled. "But you have to support the League! We're the central institution for the redistribution of wealth to trainers in need! We're too big to fail!"

I've ranted elsewhere about the dangers of comparing onesself to Monty Python. That said, allow me a moment of hyposcrisy.

"We'd like to opt out of your service. Here are our names."
"Just a moment... Sorry, I'm afraid I can't help you. These names aren't listed in our database."
"So you're not going to let us opt out."
"I'm afraid it can't be done."
"But the customer is always right!"
"Not only do you wish to not be the customer, were you even using the service in the first place?"
"That's not the point! It's a scandal if you prevent people who'd like to opt out of your service from doing so!"
"I'm afraid the issue here is out of my hands. If you're not using our service, you can't opt out of it. Your quarrel is with the English language."
"Well, escalate me to that department!"

A thing in my head

"You're the gym leader?" Ash gaped. "But you're only eight. People can't be gym leaders until they turn, you know, ten."