Experimental acceleration of evolution was the plot of the 1964 teleplay, "Wolf 359", which was one of the very best Outer Limits episodes. A scaled-down version of a distant life-bearing planet was constructed in a laboratory safe-room. The passage of millennia of days and nights was simulated by a strobe light blinking at an imperceptibly-fast rate. Evolutionary progress was monitored and photographed through a mini-telescope in the adjoining room. Spoiler alert: it did not end well...
Wolf 359 asks whether evolution, at the grand scale, might be moderated, at least in part, by the mere accumulation of day/night cycles, regardless of their individual and cumulative lengths, like some sort of a cosmic iterator.
Thanks for that tip and link, CarolineW ! I'll add this to my reading list. The wikipedia summary for Microcosmic God is chilling... Outsourcing with a vengeance!
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Experimental acceleration of evolution was the plot of the 1964 teleplay, "Wolf 359", which was one of the very best Outer Limits episodes. A scaled-down version of a distant life-bearing planet was constructed in a laboratory safe-room. The passage of millennia of days and nights was simulated by a strobe light blinking at an imperceptibly-fast rate. Evolutionary progress was monitored and photographed through a mini-telescope in the adjoining room. Spoiler alert: it did not end well...
Wolf 359 asks whether evolution, at the grand scale, might be moderated, at least in part, by the mere accumulation of day/night cycles, regardless of their individual and cumulative lengths, like some sort of a cosmic iterator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_359_(The_Outer_Limits)
Sounds like it was based on "Microcosmic God" by Theodore Sturgeon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcosmic_God
Thanks for that tip and link, CarolineW ! I'll add this to my reading list. The wikipedia summary for Microcosmic God is chilling... Outsourcing with a vengeance!