Don't Change Color, Kitty
Nov. 22nd, 2024 08:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingRay Cat
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_cat
A ray cat is a proposed kind of cat that would be genetically engineered to change appearance in the presence of nuclear radiation. Philosophers Françoise Bastide and Paolo Fabbri originated the idea of a "living radiation detector" in 1984 as a proposed long-term nuclear waste warning message that could be understood 10,000 years in the future, building on the Human Interference Task Force's idea of oral transmission of radiation's dangers. Bastide and Fabbri did not specify a particular animal to be used, but coined the term "ray cat" to illustrate how name choice could convey the animal's function. They also did not specify how the animals' appearance should change, but ray cats are often conceived of as either changing color or glowing.
The "artist's impression of a ray cat" on the Wikipedia page is precious. I tried to find fan art of this concept, but I was unsuccessful. I guess I'll have to man up, learn to draw animals, and create it myself.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_cat
A ray cat is a proposed kind of cat that would be genetically engineered to change appearance in the presence of nuclear radiation. Philosophers Françoise Bastide and Paolo Fabbri originated the idea of a "living radiation detector" in 1984 as a proposed long-term nuclear waste warning message that could be understood 10,000 years in the future, building on the Human Interference Task Force's idea of oral transmission of radiation's dangers. Bastide and Fabbri did not specify a particular animal to be used, but coined the term "ray cat" to illustrate how name choice could convey the animal's function. They also did not specify how the animals' appearance should change, but ray cats are often conceived of as either changing color or glowing.
The "artist's impression of a ray cat" on the Wikipedia page is precious. I tried to find fan art of this concept, but I was unsuccessful. I guess I'll have to man up, learn to draw animals, and create it myself.
