FREEMAN'S MIND: EPISODE 61

[ElFreakazoide]

Awesome episode again Ross, good job.

 

Re Momentum and teleporters, I think Freeman has got a bit muddled. There are two types of momentum to consider here, the momentum of his centre of mass (CoM) and the momentum of his constituent parts in the frame where his CoM momentum is zero. Freeman has experience so far that teleporters don't conserve CoM momentum, but that doesn't mean they kill ALL momentum. I can't see an obvious problem with teleporters cancelling CoM momentum*, so "speedy thing goes in, stationary thing comes out", but there are some big problems with cancelling ALL momentum (someone already mentioned that motion of particles is basically temperature, so Freeman would freeze solid, but there's also the issue that it would violate the Heisenberg uncertainty principle...)

 

* I mean, you'd need to shunt it somewhere, but this seems the least of your worries if you were actually trying to design a teleporter...

Okay this goes back to the "multiple breakthroughs" line again. I considered that maybe it only detects motion on a certain level, but what level? At the cellular level, who knows fast your cells are moving? Hell I think sneezes are at 100mph. Nerve connections and the brain in general must move pretty damn fast as well. I guess the thing is I don't see how you would cancel one type of momentum, but not the other; additionally I don't see how there would be technology to DISTINGUISH the two or even DETECT the difference in the first place. I really tried to think this one out and I couldn't come up with any scenario where momentum is cancelled AND you come out alive on the other end short of having some positional tracking and computational system way, way beyond anything we could dream about. Let us not forget, Black Mesa still uses giant tape reels on their computers.

 

Well, this is my first post on the forums, but I wanted to give my own two cents on the discussion about momentum, for even though I don't have a degree, I'm sort of a physics freak.

 

First of all I must give my compliments to you Ross and the comunity for being interested in figuring out these kinds of things, that speaks volumes about the dedication of you and a generous part of your audience. But well, the way I understand your current discussion makes me think that you are looking at the problem of momentum conservation, as well as the issue of your heart and brain stopping from the angle of newtonian mechanics, which unfortunately do not apply to many of the phenoemena involving quantum mechanics. The way quantum entanglement works in any possible teleportation event actualy involves a form of angular momentum in quantum mechanics which you'll immidiately recognize as the spin number of the particle, the other form of angular momentum in quantum mechanics being the orbital angular momentum, which has a lot to do with particles like electrons when they "orbit" the nucleus of an atom. These kinds of momentum are in most cases independent from any other sort of momentum when it comes to the fundamental forces of nature like electromagnetism is. The state of a particle is related to its spin number, so when particles become entangled their states are put in a sort of balance where the particle does the opposite of what its pair is doing, so when you teleport what happens is that the state of a particle is being comunicated to the other and that particle aquires it while the particle which held the original state loses it, so what comes at the other side of the teleporter does not have the "same" atoms as the one that entered it, but its atoms have the exact same state which was comunicated.

 

Now the actual issue is that given how sensitive entangled particle pairs are, not only does the heissenberg uncertainty principle give problems to how they might be preserved in that state, but I had problems accepting Gordon was even able to teleport at such a velocity when he was falling in chapter 60 since such a speed would have created enormous amounts of noise which would have triggered quantum decoherence and the entanglement would have been imposible to preserve. But then I thought that even by walking or sneezing quantum decoherence would have been a problem. So these teleporters' existence depend on the Lambda team having solved the issue of quantum decoherence. Later in HL2 it is explained that xen is used as some sort of means to cheat with the teleporter technology which would imply that xen is probably a solution to this problem and it is also said by Judith Mossman at one point that they are working with entanglement (which actualy as you know is the name of one of the chapters in HL2), so if Gordon was able to teleport and lose all that momentum gained from falling, then that means that it was passed on to xen in some way, given even your own cannon where Gordon didn't even feel heat from the teleporters would imply that xen might be a vehicle through which you can get rid of these kinds of things, since the spin and the orbital angular momentum are important in the entanglement, this means that this is the only form of momentum being preserved, which in turn means that any electromagnetic activity is untouched by the teleportation event and will immidiately resume once the event has concluded, since the heart and the brain and even your own metabolism depend on electromagnetism, they would not be affected at all by a quantum teleportation event. This is why you'll never see an objection of this nature in any physics dcumentary that I know of, for assuming the quantum decoherence problem is solved electromagnetism remains unaffected.

 

I might be mistaken somewhere, I know I'm not perfect and I recognize I'm an amateur, but the way I udnerstand it this should be an approximately appropiate explanation for it. Now of course it doesn't matter since this is supposed to entertain people and you are the one who decides how hard is the science scrutiny in your videos, I don't think its worth overthinking it too much. But for whatever is worth it would be extremely improbable that someone like Gordon would have even considered the scenario of your brain and heart stopping, however given his circunstances being a paranoid almost schizophrenic individual and having taken a lot of morphine recently I BELIVE he would forget to consider that, I mean he is the kind of guy who says "Wait, what am I doing?" or "What am I saying?", he DID theorize about pixies and wasn't even sure wether gnomes where real or not; we are inside his mind in the series, but we have not been in there since the beggining of his life, so who knows what else he thinks, except for you of course.

 

Now xen is going to be interesting for gordon, it has been implied by Breen in HL2 that there are worlds that are streched thin accross the membranes where dimensions (or better said universes) interact and it has been suggested that xen could be a place like that in some places, this implies that M theory or another form of string theory is most probably true, Gordon has expressed his lack of trust in string theory at least 2 times so far, so this will be a big ironic let down for his original expectations when he was about to push that crystal sample into the beam hoping to disprove it and rub it on people's faces.

 

Anyways, excelent video, Ross, I've been following this series since day one and I think its brilliant stuff, sorry I got carried away with the length of this post.

 

Cheers from Chile.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Guest (see edit history)

[Otto]

Wow, I would love to read all of this now but I have little time.

I forgot to ask, did anyone else hear Shepard's line as "Redrum!"? That was my initial impression.

 

Maybe it seems shorter because I went up there and started talking to the scientist instead of standing around. The only other thing I can think of is Half-Life Source shortens it compared to Half-Life original.

 

If you guys want to be scientific about this, how about somebody load up Half-Life and clock it? I didn't modify the timing in this episode except small adjustments during the level loads (which occurs before you even enter the chamber), so you can use my video as a benchmark for HL:Source.

 

I just tested it with the GoldSrc game. It's the exact same time from when Freeman walks through the door to the time the portal opens.

What difficulty did you try it on? I have both games but I'm too lazy to count it myself.

 

"Screwed"? What are you talking about? The Seven Hour was just what Earth needed. Now all our energy is renewable, there's enough food for everyone, and crime is at its lowest rate in recorded history. It's a total U-turn.

Haha, well timed.

 

If any of you haven't, this is worth a read:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/

While it's an age-old great site with well laid out and concise material, I would just like to point out that not all of it is officially confirmed

and that the writer has simply made up many smaller details about the story and its place on the timeline that are not known to be true.

 

I joined blip.tv JUST before Maker Studios came in and bought them out, since then, the income from them fell dramatically. I'm not removing the old links, but it's simply not worth it compared to Youtube now.

Yeah, that sucks big time. It seemed like quite a good operation you were having, but then such bad luck with the timing.

[awsgames]

Sheesh, I can't believe we're this close to finishing. It doesn't seem real. I started watching this in the 8th grade, and since then I've gone through high school and graduated. I remember telling my friend about episode 10.5 after school one day and how it was just an April Fool's joke, but he didn't believe me. I remember when Ross moved all the way to the West Coast to work at the Machinima offices, and then moved back to Virgina like 10 seconds later. I remember the whole drama with Machinima and the switch to his current network. I remember theorizing whether or not Ross would switch to Black Mesa after the trash compactor scene. I remember him passing that part before Black Mesa even came out. Heck, I remember Black Mesa coming out. It all feels like it was just a few weeks ago but at the same time it feels distant. It's an odd sensation. I wonder how long it'll take him to get through Half-Life 2.

[Mike_90]

I wonder how long it'll take him to get through Half-Life 2.

 

It all depends on how much Xen will affect his perception of time. Judging from Valve's experience, we will see Freeman freaking out in the citadel explosion by 2031.

 

I can't wait for episode two.

Literally.

 

[TMAD83]

Just wanted to say great episode Ross. I just can't wait to see which ending that you choose to do. But based off of the portrayal of Freeman so far I think he will choose to take G-Man's offer.

[phollox]

Hmm, the whole point of the teleporters not conserving momentum is interesting, as it brings up one of the research lines of Black Mesa main competitor, Aperture Science. Those guys did it right.

 

In the Half Life Universe, where Aperture Science coexist with Black Mesa, as seen in Portal 1, what happened after the Combine invasion? Aperture Science still exist. We got Portal 2. Damn, I would love to see Freeman with a Portal Gun. And I bet Freeman would love to see Chell, although I heard he prefers blondes with a European accent instead of mute asians....

 

Maybe the teleporters doesn't conserve momentum because Freeman is a man and he has balls. Conserving the cellular movement of the sperm within the balls would require some precise calculations. A roundup error could cause that sperm is shoot at high spend within the balls, piercing the scrotum with millions of tiny holes and staining with blood and semen the HEV . Hence, velocity vector times zero if the subject is male.

 

The same argument could be used to individual blood cells, but it's neither funny nor sex discriminant.

[kingkolton9]

Hmm, the whole point of the teleporters not conserving momentum is interesting, as it brings up one of the research lines of Black Mesa main competitor, Aperture Science. Those guys did it right.

 

In the Half Life Universe, where Aperture Science coexist with Black Mesa, as seen in Portal 1, what happened after the Combine invasion? Aperture Science still exist. We got Portal 2. Damn, I would love to see Freeman with a Portal Gun. And I bet Freeman would love to see Chell, although I heard he prefers blondes with a European accent instead of mute asians....

 

Maybe the teleporters doesn't conserve momentum because Freeman is a man and he has balls. Conserving the cellular movement of the sperm within the balls would require some precise calculations. A roundup error could cause that sperm is shoot at high spend within the balls, piercing the scrotum with millions of tiny holes and staining with blood and semen the HEV . Hence, velocity vector times zero if the subject is male.

 

The same argument could be used to individual blood cells, but it's neither funny nor sex discriminant.

 

Black Mesa is still there! Well, was.

 

[VeryShyPerson]

Though, to be honest, are we SURE that Freeman made it through the teleporter completely intact? I remember running into this problem once:

 

 

 

 

We had to do facial reconstruction surgery on him to get him to a recognizable state. But then we had to shave his beard and he wasn't too happy about it.

[kjc609]

Though, to be honest, are we SURE that Freeman made it through the teleporter completely intact? I remember running into this problem once:

 

 

 

 

We had to do facial reconstruction surgery on him to get him to a recognizable state. But then we had to shave his beard and he wasn't too happy about it.

 

WHAT THE FUCK THAT WAS FUCKING HORRIFYING OH GOD OH GOD FUCK

[Hühnerdieb]

come on guys... don't spoil so much!

I want to know what will happend at the next episode!

[phollox]

Hmm, the whole point of the teleporters not conserving momentum is interesting, as it brings up one of the research lines of Black Mesa main competitor, Aperture Science. Those guys did it right.

 

In the Half Life Universe, where Aperture Science coexist with Black Mesa, as seen in Portal 1, what happened after the Combine invasion? Aperture Science still exist. We got Portal 2..

 

Black Mesa is still there! Well, was.

 

My bad. I wasn't clear in my statement. I meant, Black Mesa and Aperture science were competitors, as seen in Portal 1. The Half Life story line includes the Combine invasion, the Earth becomes enslaved, etc, etc. Under that story, what happened to Aperture Science? Chell kills GLADOS, didn't escape the lab, she's put in suspended animation, and long time afterwards, she's awoken to Portal 2. So, there's no Aperture Science during the Combine Invasion? Is Chell awoken after the Invasion?

 

I found some answers here

[kingkolton9]

Hmm, the whole point of the teleporters not conserving momentum is interesting, as it brings up one of the research lines of Black Mesa main competitor, Aperture Science. Those guys did it right.

 

In the Half Life Universe, where Aperture Science coexist with Black Mesa, as seen in Portal 1, what happened after the Combine invasion? Aperture Science still exist. We got Portal 2..

 

Black Mesa is still there! Well, was.

 

My bad. I wasn't clear in my statement. I meant, Black Mesa and Aperture science were competitors, as seen in Portal 1. The Half Life story line includes the Combine invasion, the Earth becomes enslaved, etc, etc. Under that story, what happened to Aperture Science? Chell kills GLADOS, didn't escape the lab, she's put in suspended animation, and long time afterwards, she's awoken to Portal 2. So, there's no Aperture Science during the Combine Invasion? Is Chell awoken after the Invasion?

 

I found some answers here

 

Doing this all off of memory, so it may be a bit off.

 

 

The resonance cascade and GLaDOS' awaking coincide. Nihilanth is killed, Black Mesa is destroyed by a nuke, Adrian Shepherd and Gordon Freeman are put in stasis. Cross and Green do a "reverse resonance." Barney, Rosenberg, Kleiner and Eli flee.

 

During the next 20 years, the Combine invade because the Nihilanth is killed. Leeches spread to the Earth's oceans, as do the shark-ama-bobs. A resistance is formed with former Black Mesa employees and Vortigaunts, who are no longer slaves.

 

Chell is woken up a few years after the resonance cascade, but a few years before Half Life 2. Aperture Science is self-sufficient. Chell is one of the few remaining personnel. Rattman has fled himself, but ends up dragging Chell back in.

 

Half life two occurs, Freeman is woken up, the uprising begins, Black Mesa East is destroyed, Breen is killed, the Gman re-freezes Gordon.

 

Portal 2 happens. Chell is the last employee; Rattman is long dead. The combine are gone, crops are back, the resistance is over. Earth won. Earth is back to where it was pre-resonance cascade.

 

 

That help?

[Goliath Curolo]

 

Doing this all off of memory, so it may be a bit off.

 

 

The resonance cascade and GLaDOS' awaking coincide. Nihilanth is killed, Black Mesa is destroyed by a nuke, Adrian Shepherd and Gordon Freeman are put in stasis. Cross and Green do a "reverse resonance." Barney, Rosenberg, Kleiner and Eli flee.

 

During the next 20 years, the Combine invade because the Nihilanth is killed. Leeches spread to the Earth's oceans, as do the shark-ama-bobs. A resistance is formed with former Black Mesa employees and Vortigaunts, who are no longer slaves.

 

Chell is woken up a few years after the resonance cascade, but a few years before Half Life 2. Aperture Science is self-sufficient. Chell is one of the few remaining personnel. Rattman has fled himself, but ends up dragging Chell back in.

 

Half life two occurs, Freeman is woken up, the uprising begins, Black Mesa East is destroyed, Breen is killed, the Gman re-freezes Gordon.

 

Portal 2 happens. Chell is the last employee; Rattman is long dead. The combine are gone, crops are back, the resistance is over. Earth won. Earth is back to where it was pre-resonance cascade.

 

 

That help?

 

"Rattman is long dead. The combine are gone, the resistance is over. Earth won. Earth is back to where it was pre-resonance cascade."

 

HA MATE! You can't possible know that! Nothing of this is confirmed and you're actually triggering my autism!

[kingkolton9]

 

Doing this all off of memory, so it may be a bit off.

 

 

The resonance cascade and GLaDOS' awaking coincide. Nihilanth is killed, Black Mesa is destroyed by a nuke, Adrian Shepherd and Gordon Freeman are put in stasis. Cross and Green do a "reverse resonance." Barney, Rosenberg, Kleiner and Eli flee.

 

During the next 20 years, the Combine invade because the Nihilanth is killed. Leeches spread to the Earth's oceans, as do the shark-ama-bobs. A resistance is formed with former Black Mesa employees and Vortigaunts, who are no longer slaves.

 

Chell is woken up a few years after the resonance cascade, but a few years before Half Life 2. Aperture Science is self-sufficient. Chell is one of the few remaining personnel. Rattman has fled himself, but ends up dragging Chell back in.

 

Half life two occurs, Freeman is woken up, the uprising begins, Black Mesa East is destroyed, Breen is killed, the Gman re-freezes Gordon.

 

Portal 2 happens. Chell is the last employee; Rattman is long dead. The combine are gone, crops are back, the resistance is over. Earth won. Earth is back to where it was pre-resonance cascade.

 

 

That help?

 

"Rattman is long dead. The combine are gone, the resistance is over. Earth won. Earth is back to where it was pre-resonance cascade."

 

HA MATE! You can't possible know that! Nothing of this is confirmed and you're actually triggering my autism!

 

The end of Portal 2 makes this pretty clear. Earth's skies are a lush blue, there a white clouds, blue oceans, a bright moon, huge fields for farming (looks to be for post-industrial use, considering its size), Rattman is confirmed dead from a turret wound, and we know Portal 2 takes place well after Half Life 2.

 

Chell was in stasis long enough for the self-sufficient system to be torn to shreds. That is, of course, after a social hierarchy was established and different departments were created. The announcer is partially corrupt, GLaDOS' core corruption was at 80% (There were way more than the few Chell broke in Portal), and large amounts of Ivy have infested the facility.

 

Not only that, but GLaDOS has the two robots now and says she "doesn't need Chell" anymore. Chell was the last subject, otherwise GLaDOS would have grabbed someone else.

 

Seriously, are you trolling me?

[Crawfish]

 

Doing this all off of memory, so it may be a bit off.

 

 

The resonance cascade and GLaDOS' awaking coincide. Nihilanth is killed, Black Mesa is destroyed by a nuke, Adrian Shepherd and Gordon Freeman are put in stasis. Cross and Green do a "reverse resonance." Barney, Rosenberg, Kleiner and Eli flee.

 

During the next 20 years, the Combine invade because the Nihilanth is killed. Leeches spread to the Earth's oceans, as do the shark-ama-bobs. A resistance is formed with former Black Mesa employees and Vortigaunts, who are no longer slaves.

 

Chell is woken up a few years after the resonance cascade, but a few years before Half Life 2. Aperture Science is self-sufficient. Chell is one of the few remaining personnel. Rattman has fled himself, but ends up dragging Chell back in.

 

Half life two occurs, Freeman is woken up, the uprising begins, Black Mesa East is destroyed, Breen is killed, the Gman re-freezes Gordon.

 

Portal 2 happens. Chell is the last employee; Rattman is long dead. The combine are gone, crops are back, the resistance is over. Earth won. Earth is back to where it was pre-resonance cascade.

 

 

That help?

 

"Rattman is long dead. The combine are gone, the resistance is over. Earth won. Earth is back to where it was pre-resonance cascade."

 

HA MATE! You can't possible know that! Nothing of this is confirmed and you're actually triggering my autism!

 

The end of Portal 2 makes this pretty clear. Earth's skies are a lush blue, there a white clouds, blue oceans, a bright moon, huge fields for farming (looks to be for post-industrial use, considering its size), Rattman is confirmed dead from a turret wound, and we know Portal 2 takes place well after Half Life 2.

 

Chell was in stasis long enough for the self-sufficient system to be torn to shreds. That is, of course, after a social hierarchy was established and different departments were created. The announcer is partially corrupt, GLaDOS' core corruption was at 80% (There were way more than the few Chell broke in Portal), and large amounts of Ivy have infested the facility.

 

Not only that, but GLaDOS has the two robots now and says she "doesn't need Chell" anymore. Chell was the last subject, otherwise GLaDOS would have grabbed someone else.

 

Seriously, are you trolling me?

I find it hard to believe Earth would ever fully recover from the Resonance Cascade and its side effects. At least not in one generation.

Thousands of species would have gone extinct due to the introduction of the Xenians, the ocean was lowered by roughly 50 feet, and 70% of the human population is gone. It would take centuries to recover, and even then, the Xenian species' would be permanently ingrained into Earth's ecosystem as a corruption. Headcrabs are proven edible as resistance members and Vortigaunts are seen preparing and eating them in Half-Life 2, and they're also as common as vermin, so they'd likely become a common food source, more common than cows, which are likely extinct or incredibly endangered. As well, with the introduction of Leeches and Icthyosaurs into oceans and lakes, most aquatic life is probably gone, except for maybe that which is far down enough to be in pressures that the Xenians can't survive.

There's just no real recovery from something like that. It would be a permanent scar on Earth's history, and it would show because of the constant bleeding.

[VeryShyPerson]

I find it hard to believe Earth would ever fully recover from the Resonance Cascade and its side effects. At least not in one generation.

Thousands of species would have gone extinct due to the introduction of the Xenians, the ocean was lowered by roughly 50 feet, and 70% of the human population is gone. It would take centuries to recover, and even then, the Xenian species' would be permanently ingrained into Earth's ecosystem as a corruption. Headcrabs are proven edible as resistance members and Vortigaunts are seen preparing and eating them in Half-Life 2, and they're also as common as vermin, so they'd likely become a common food source, more common than cows, which are likely extinct or incredibly endangered. As well, with the introduction of Leeches and Icthyosaurs into oceans and lakes, most aquatic life is probably gone, except for maybe that which is far down enough to be in pressures that the Xenians can't survive.

There's just no real recovery from something like that. It would be a permanent scar on Earth's history, and it would show because of the constant bleeding.

 

I actually wrote about the subject in one of my fanfictions. (PM me if you're curious.) Basically even a long time after the combine were gone away big parts of the earth were still a wasteland and a lot of the ecosystem was messed up but the xen wildlife adapted to fill in the niches so while not as good as before it was functional. Also there were pet headcrabs and houndeyes and chumtoads. And leeches were a common food source. Theres more but I don't feel like looking up in my notes right now.

[kingkolton9]

 

"Rattman is long dead. The combine are gone, the resistance is over. Earth won. Earth is back to where it was pre-resonance cascade."

 

HA MATE! You can't possible know that! Nothing of this is confirmed and you're actually triggering my autism!

 

The end of Portal 2 makes this pretty clear. Earth's skies are a lush blue, there a white clouds, blue oceans, a bright moon, huge fields for farming (looks to be for post-industrial use, considering its size), Rattman is confirmed dead from a turret wound, and we know Portal 2 takes place well after Half Life 2.

 

Chell was in stasis long enough for the self-sufficient system to be torn to shreds. That is, of course, after a social hierarchy was established and different departments were created. The announcer is partially corrupt, GLaDOS' core corruption was at 80% (There were way more than the few Chell broke in Portal), and large amounts of Ivy have infested the facility.

 

Not only that, but GLaDOS has the two robots now and says she "doesn't need Chell" anymore. Chell was the last subject, otherwise GLaDOS would have grabbed someone else.

 

Seriously, are you trolling me?

 

I find it hard to believe Earth would ever fully recover from the Resonance Cascade and its side effects. At least not in one generation.

Thousands of species would have gone extinct due to the introduction of the Xenians, the ocean was lowered by roughly 50 feet, and 70% of the human population is gone. It would take centuries to recover, and even then, the Xenian species' would be permanently ingrained into Earth's ecosystem as a corruption. Headcrabs are proven edible as resistance members and Vortigaunts are seen preparing and eating them in Half-Life 2, and they're also as common as vermin, so they'd likely become a common food source, more common than cows, which are likely extinct or incredibly endangered. As well, with the introduction of Leeches and Icthyosaurs into oceans and lakes, most aquatic life is probably gone, except for maybe that which is far down enough to be in pressures that the Xenians can't survive.

There's just no real recovery from something like that. It would be a permanent scar on Earth's history, and it would show because of the constant bleeding.

 

On generation is 20 years. I'm guessing at least a hundred has passed since Half Life 2, but I'd bet on longer. A lot longer. Yeah, I fucked up on the "back to where it was pre-resonance cascade" thing, but as I said before everything was from memory. And my interpretation on that was somewhat shitty.

 

Still, though: From the Earth we saw in space, there seems to be a lot of wastelands cleared up (Or almost none there), the oceans and atmosphere look fine, there's so little pollution that Chell can see stars somewhat clearly from within Aperture and GLaDOS says she saw wildlife, (A deer and birds, iirc).

 

"the ocean was lowered by roughly 50 feet, and 70% of the human population is gone."

 

I'm not doubting you, but I don't recall any of that. I know that there was some stuff cut from Half Life 2 about draining the Earth's resources, but I don't remember a statistic about the people.

 

"It would take centuries to recover, and even then, the Xenian species' would be permanently ingrained into Earth's ecosystem as a corruption."

 

I wouldn't call it a corruption, but it's certainly a rapid change.

[Crawfish]

I find it hard to believe Earth would ever fully recover from the Resonance Cascade and its side effects. At least not in one generation.

Thousands of species would have gone extinct due to the introduction of the Xenians, the ocean was lowered by roughly 50 feet, and 70% of the human population is gone. It would take centuries to recover, and even then, the Xenian species' would be permanently ingrained into Earth's ecosystem as a corruption. Headcrabs are proven edible as resistance members and Vortigaunts are seen preparing and eating them in Half-Life 2, and they're also as common as vermin, so they'd likely become a common food source, more common than cows, which are likely extinct or incredibly endangered. As well, with the introduction of Leeches and Icthyosaurs into oceans and lakes, most aquatic life is probably gone, except for maybe that which is far down enough to be in pressures that the Xenians can't survive.

There's just no real recovery from something like that. It would be a permanent scar on Earth's history, and it would show because of the constant bleeding.

 

On generation is 20 years. I'm guessing at least a hundred has passed since Half Life 2, but I'd bet on longer. A lot longer. Yeah, I fucked up on the "back to where it was pre-resonance cascade" thing, but as I said before everything was from memory. And my interpretation on that was somewhat shitty.

 

Still, though: From the Earth we saw in space, there seems to be a lot of wastelands cleared up (Or almost none there), the oceans and atmosphere look fine, there's so little pollution that Chell can see stars somewhat clearly from within Aperture and GLaDOS says she saw wildlife, (A deer and birds, iirc).

 

"the ocean was lowered by roughly 50 feet, and 70% of the human population is gone."

 

I'm not doubting you, but I don't recall any of that. I know that there was some stuff cut from Half Life 2 about draining the Earth's resources, but I don't remember a statistic about the people.

 

"It would take centuries to recover, and even then, the Xenian species' would be permanently ingrained into Earth's ecosystem as a corruption."

 

I wouldn't call it a corruption, but it's certainly a rapid change.

My statistic about humans is an assumption (and I believe it was actually talked about in an episode of Civil Protection, something about oil, but then again, that's not technically canon), but it's safe to assume that considering the entire human race fought against the Combine in the 7 Hour War, that millions, if not billions of lives were lost. But you can obviously see the lowered oceans in Half-Life 2, primarily in the chapter Highway 17. The area where you're lowered to the beach in the buggy has several beached boats. It used to be a harbor, but because of the Combine using the Earth's resources on their homeworld, the ocean has been drastically lowered. 50 feet is also just an assumption, but if it's not that, then it's more. I'd personally love to see a map project where someone rises the ocean to natural levels, just to see what it would look like.

[Jsor]

Gordon wouldn't know this, but I believe they explain the Black Mesa teleporters in HL2. They say they "slingshot" you around Xen. I'm not sure why the subject wouldn't remember it, but it's possible that they sort of work like the Portal portals (which are just connections between arbitrary points) that spit you out in Xen for an incredibly short distance before you come out the other end. Depending on how and exactly where this slingshotting is done, it could explain the loss in momentum.

 

Like, imagine four portals which we'll use | for.

 

Black Mesa A ----> || > ---- Xen (momentum slows here) --- > || > (at rest) --- Black Mesa B

 

It doesn't explain why the portals are one way or anything, but it's a fanwank.

[Mr Nutt]

In Half-Life 2 they also say the teleporter they have is string based. I wonder what Freeman will have to say about that.