User:Maxziskin
Varied opening remarks rendered and typed in preparation for the upcoming gubernatorial debate: “That Spartan who was eaten by the fox hidden in his jacket.”
Key Quote(s): “For Any System to operate without unneeded Grinding of Gears all parts included, related and pertaining to must be microcosms of The System unto themselves.”
My desk is in no way as cluttered as Herbert’s. My desk would be described as a triumph of Post-Modern Scandinavian Design. Herbert’s desk is decidedly Flemish. Herbert was fired this morning for, among other things, “Maintaining a desk unfit for, and unbecoming of, persons employed by the Second National Oil Corporation of New Bedford.” The memo circulated regarding this Board Sanctioned Action cleared up some ambiguity that some of our more cynical or in the eyes of The Bureaucracy, mischievous, colleagues have been, in the past few years clamoring about in Section III of The Handbook for Persons Employed. The section entitled, “Expectations for the Workplace: Decorum and Demeanor.” The memo read:
“…Among the diverse transgressions of the so punished Subject of This Memorandum, one Most Serious Contravention committed is herein released to General and Unrestricted Consumption. The state of the aforementioned desk retained in part or in whole by varied Persons Employed is to be kept in a manned resembling and reminiscent of a Well Oiled Automobile of Indeterminate Scandinavian Manufacture. Said desk has been identified by Persons Unnamed to display elements of suspected and assumed Belgian Influence/Manufacture/Design. This Most Serious Contravention of the bylaws of NatOilCorp Mk. 2 will be and has been taken as a personal, vulgar and visible slight to The Corporation perpetrated by the offender and hereby terminated employee or Person(s) Previously Employed...”
Herbert was escorted off Corporate Property by three beleaguered, balding and surprisingly stout men from Marketing and Manufacture. Another day, another Triumph for The System! Herbert was a burr on the oiled Gears of Progress. As sad as I could have been to see him Removed from his cubicle, I understood the reasoning behind his Termination. For Any System to operate without unneeded Grinding of Gears all parts included, related and pertaining to must be microcosms of The System unto themselves. Considering the state of Herbert’s workspace, who knows what sort of Offenses Against the System Herbert had seen to fruition in during his tenure classified as one Person Employed? I submit the example of The Running Millipede. If one leg were to miss the memo concerning the Synchronization of Alternating Leg Motion and Articulation, or even a Negation of Previous Linear Bearing Adjustment Notification, the millipede itself would trip and fall to its unproductive and costly doom.
And so, my argument in favor of the complete and immediate regimentation of all human activity is thusly explained in this allegory of Herbert the Millipede-Leg.
Any divergence is clearly dangerous, socialist and homosexual in nature;
A list including some, but not all Endorsed and Defined Terms: Post-Modern Scandinavian Design, Second National Oil Corporation of New Bedford, Board Sanctioned Action, The Handbook for Persons Employed, Expectations for the Workplace: Decorum and Demeanor, Subject of This Memorandum, Most Serious Contravention, General and Unrestricted Consumption, Well Oiled Automobile of Indeterminate Scandinavian Manufacture, Belgian Influence/Manufacture/Design, Person(s) Previously Employed, Marketing and Manufacture, Triumph for The System, Gears of Progress, Offenses Against the System, The Running Millipede, Grinding of Gears, Synchronization of Alternating Leg Motion and Articulation, Negation of Previous Linear Bearing Adjustment Notification, Herbert the Millipede-Leg, Endorsed and Defined Terms.
DATUM ENCELADI
Enceladus, the fifth most massive natural satellite of Saturn, is a rarity. This tiny moon, only five hundred kilometers in diameter, is home to one of the most complex living system outside Earth. In technical scholarly study this organisms is called The Enceladian Self-Replicating Automated Constructor System, henceforth termed ESRACS. Over a dozen independent ESRACSs have been observed along Enceladus’s Sulci. The Enceladian Sulci are surface fold belts that are quite active tectonic regions where geysers spew an ice-water slurry from underground Pressurized Aquifers. No ESRACSs are found far from these Sulci because of the way that they have been observed to tap the buried Pressurized Aquifers. The best way to describe an ESRACS to a layperson is to explain it as a large scale factory that fabricates the components necessary for its own function. The functions of ESRACS can be categorized into nine integrated Supersystems. The Supersystems comprise of: Fabrication, Central Processing, Material Storage, Material and Component Transport, Centralized Power Grid, Mantle Material Extraction, Mantle Energy Extraction, Non-Renewable Resource Recovery, and Replication. Each of these Supersystems are integrated and essential to the survival of an ESRACS. Each of the ESRACS differ slightly in operation, but the overriding principles are universal. The ESRACS whose function is detailed in this report is the largest and believed to be the oldest still functioning; in the accepted nomenclature it is called ESRACS Prime. ESRACS Prime is situated on the north bank of the Smarkand Sulci and currently controls over 30% of the known Pressurized Aquifers. This investigatory report will describe the function of the nine ESRACS Prime Supersystems and also the interaction between unrelated ESRACSs.
A1. Fabrication
The Centralized Fabrication Control is operated at ESRACS Prime by Central Processing (A9), assigning component fabrication to plants near the final destination of the component. It is believed that at one point ESRACS Prime adhered to a Hub-and-Spoke Paradigm of Fabrication and Fabricated Component distribution, but at present there are numerous, smaller interconnected Local Fabrication Plants. The raw materials processed in Fabrication to make the vast majority of the components of ESRACS Prime are as follows: Metals (Ferrous and Non-Ferrous), Carbon, Silicon, and Ice. ESRACS Prime is able to fabricate every component utilized by ESRACS Prime. Forged casting and sheet metal stamping is used for fabrication of metallic components, while pressurized water jets are used to cut ice blocks. Both of these methods are utilized in the fabrication of carbon and silicon components.
A2. Mantle Energy Extraction
The energy that powers all of the functions of ESRACS Prime is harvested by this Supersystem. Mantle Energy Extraction facilities are located above Pressurized Aquifers. These Pressurized Aquifers are tapped, to allow the measured escape of the pressurized slurry. The escaping slurry is forced through conduits containing turbine arrays. These turbines transfer the pressure of the aquifers into electricity. The electricity is routed to the Central ESRACS Prime Power Grid (A3).
A3. Centralized Power Grid
Centralized Power on ESRACS Prime controls and regulates power consumption and distribution of the Supersystems. CPG holds a startling amount of influence in the operation of ESRACS Prime. While Central Processing (A9) holds the final say, CPG controls one of two Operational Vetoes. CPG can veto any project or operation on the grounds that said project or operation would put the Available Power Reserve into danger of depletion. CPG Estimated Power Consumption Algorithms are much more conservative that the algorithms used by the other Supersystems. This way, the CPG prevents ESRACS Prime from action deemed too risky power-wise. The only way a plan that includes fatal risk to ESRACS Prime, is for Central Processing (A9), to override CPG’s veto. This only occurs in times of great crisis, and usually are the last option for the survival of ESRACS Prime.
A4. Material and Reserve Component Storage
Material and Reserve Component Storage operates a series of depots and distribution hubs. Material and Reserve Components arrive from Material and Component Transport (A5), and are placed in stores where they are readily available to Supersystem Requisition, handled through Central Processing (A9). MaRCS, in addition to necessary Operational Supersystem Requisitions, can make its own Low-Priority Supersystem Requisitions for the stockpiling of Reserve Components.
A5. Material and Component Transport
Material and Component Transport is one of the most ingenious aspects of ESRACS Prime. Almost all Material and Component Transportation is achieved by downhill negative degree rails. MaCT holds second Operational Veto in ESRACS Prime. This veto essentially allows MaCT to choose the location of other Supersystem Stations from a list of possible locations submitted by the requisitioning superstation. Although Central Processing (A9) can override this veto, it rarely does. The purpose of this veto is to allow MaCT to place the Supersystem Stations in locations that follow the general rule of Low Energy-Consumption Transportation. The idea is that Mantle Material Extraction (A6) is located at the highest elevation possible, so that once the material is extracted it will not generally be needed to be transported uphill. Along with an MME Station (A6) at the top of the Elevation Chart are Local Fabrication Plants (A1), and the Material and Reserve Component Storage Depots (A4), and the Non-Renewable Resource Recovery contingency staging areas (A7). The lowest level of the Elevation Chart is contains: Central Processing (A9), Mantle Energy Extraction (A2), and the Centralized Power Grid (A3). By design, no constituent of the lowest level has any material output whatsoever. Between the two main levels are many sublevels, in the form of hills, to further expedite the transportation of material in Intra-Level Transport.
A6. Mantle Material Extraction
Mantle Material Extraction is the mining of the raw materials used by Fabrication (A1), except silicon. Although MME is a huge operation, over time, MME has essentially become a subsystem of Material and Component Transport (A5). This is due to MaCT’s Operational Veto (A5) and the accepted weight of the doctrines of Low Energy-Consumption Transportation and the adoption of the Elevation Chart. All MME operations are overseen by one of the other Supersystems. The fact that MME is still considered a Supersystem is a relic of archaic analysis of ESRACS Prime’s operation.
A7. Non-Renewable Resource Recovery
Non-Renewable Resource Recovery is the second smallest of the nine classical Supersystems. NRRR is primarily tasked with the defense, recovery and if need be acquisition of non-indigenous or exhausted materials. These materials, for the most part are necessary for the operation of Central Processing (A9). The most important of these materials is silicon. Silicon does not appear in sufficient quantities on Enceladus. The occurrence of silicon in all of the known ESRACSs either dates the ESRACSs much older that originally thought, old enough to have already depleted the natural supply, or proves the ESRACSs are of Extra-Enceladian Origin. In the event of catastrophic loss of material, NRRR is dispatched to recover the missing material. NRRR’s Contingency Response Teams are networks of aerial semi-autonomous agents. The NRRR’s CRTs are also sometimes dispatched to steal silicon from other ESRACSs, making the NRRR the only superstation that directly interacts with independent ESRACSs. The strongest ESRACSs, such as ESRAC Prime, are able to steal silicon from many ESRACSs, effectively destroying Central Processing (A9) and often killing the victim ESRACS. For this reason NRRR is also tasked with the defense of Central Processing (A9), being the only Supersystem capable of dealing with the mission. It has not been observed that there is any other interaction between the ESRACSs other that their respective NRRR’s CRTs. It has not been observed that there is any exchange of information between the ESRACSs or that they even acknowledge each other as anything other than a resource to be utilized.
A8. Replication
Replication is the smallest in scope of the Supersystems, and along with Mantle Material Extraction (A6) often now not counted as a true Supersystem. This reclassification is incorrect because Central Processing (A9) deals with Replication’s Supersystem Requisitions directly, unlike Mantle Material Extraction (A6) whose requisitions are forwarded to either Material and Component Transport (A5) or Material and Reserve Component Storage (A4). Replication’s work is mostly in tandem with Non-Renewable Resource Recovery (A7). When NRR’s CRTs conduct Silicon Procurement Operations ESRACSs invariably die. These dead ESRACS are complete save the silicon in Central Processing (A9). Replication is tasked with the analysis of the dead ESRACSs. Replication’s mission is to decide which systems of the dead ESRACSs would be beneficial to absorb or, if possible to spin off as a new, smaller ESRACS. Replication’s job is to go about the absorption or re-animation that it deems beneficial. Spinning off of new ESRACSs is not a common course of action, but some ESRACSs whose energy supply is dwindling will spin a dead ESRACS off along with some sections of its own Supersystems, effectively downsizing in times where Mantle Energy Extraction (A2) is operating at a level that could deplete the Centralized Power Grid’s Available Power Reserve (A3). The question of absorption or division is most often the impetus for Centralized Power Grid (A3) Operational Vetoes, and conversely Central Processing (A9) Conditional Veto Overrides.
A9. Central Processing
Central Processing is the final arbiter of all things in ESRACS Prime. All Supersystem Requisitions are processed and assessed. Central Processing is housed alongside the processing units of all of the other Supersystems (All Mantle Material Extraction (A6) affairs are handled through either Material and Component Transport (A5) or Material and Reserve Component Storage (A4)). Central Processing’s findings are final and binding as it holds the two only Veto Overrides. The primary goal of Central Processing is the survival of ESRACS Prime. This differes from the other Supersystems, in that each of the other Supersystems’ goals are the respective completion of their stated tasks and goals, be it Fabricating the necessary components (A1) or the protection of the Available Reserve Energy (A3). Hence Central Processing's apex position on the hierarchical decision making chart.
Works Referenced: Jeff Kargel and Stefania Poxio (1996). "The Volcanic and Tectonic History of Enceladus".