RE: stinking subs

Jay Dugger (duggerj@reed.edu)
Mon, 15 Nov 1999 12:42:23 -0800 (PST)

On Mon, 15 Nov 1999, Billy Brown wrote:

> Spike Jones wrote:
> > Solution: defeat the olfactory organs using special nasal implants.
> > This solves the bad smell problem, but also allows the space colonists
> > to satisfy themselves (sort of) with the same food all the time, since
> > all food would taste about the same anyway. This solution would
> > also extend human lives in the here and now, since taking away
> > the sense of smell/taste would encourage one to eat less. spike
>
> Couldn't we just fix the problem instead? I mean, come on, the navy doesn't
> even bother with air conditioning on most vessels - I doubt they have ever

Having spent six years in the US Navy's surface fleet I can and do assure you the US Navy considers air conditioning _very_ important. Its first value is cooling high-powered electronics. Compartments containing radar sets and communications equipment are generally colder than any other place aboard except refrigerators. Air conditioning's second value is crew comfort. If you lived with fifty other people in a space little larger than a two bedroom apartment, the only way to combat odor is air conditioning. Finally, an all-metal ship absorbs a good deal of heat. Without air conditioning, the structure becomes dangerously warm and people inside it for extended periods risk heat exhuastion.

> worried much about something as 'nonessential' as odor control. You'd think
> a good air sanitizer would be fairly easy to build with modern biotech and
> filtration techniques, let alone those of 2005-2010. Surely by 2010-2015 it
> won't be all that expensive a problem to fix?
>
> Billy Brown, MCSE+I
> bbrown@transcient.com
> 

Jay Dugger		:	Til Eulenspiegel
til_e@hotmail.com	:	duggerj@reed.edu

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