What is the distinction here between plastic and metal? They both do a very good job at keeping paper together. And plastic paperclips do so less destructively since they make less of an indentation in the paper.
Let me put it to you this way: would you rather have a block of metal, or a block of plastic? Just a simple question.
Or let’s say you were in some enemy base. Would you rather have those wimply plastic paperclips, or an unbendable, solid, metal paperclip, which can pick locks, complete circuits, clean out grime …
In the enemy base scenario, I would rather have a paperclip made out of military grade composite, which can have an arbitrary % of metal by mass, from 0% metal to >50% metal.
Do you not value paperclips made out of supermaterials more than metal paperclips?
If you want to talk about making paperclip makers out of non-metals, you have a point.
If you want to claim that reasonable Clippys can disagree (before knowledge/value reconciliation) about how much metal content a paperclip can have before it’s bad, you have a point.
But in any case, composites must be constructed in their finished form. A fully-formed, fully-committed “block of composite”, where no demand for such a block exists, and certainly not at any good price, should be just as useless to you.
Are not some paperclips better than others? I (and you) would both get a lot more utility out of a paperclip made out of computronium than a paperclip made out of aluminum.
What is the distinction here between plastic and metal? They both do a very good job at keeping paper together. And plastic paperclips do so less destructively since they make less of an indentation in the paper.
Let me put it to you this way: would you rather have a block of metal, or a block of plastic? Just a simple question.
Or let’s say you were in some enemy base. Would you rather have those wimply plastic paperclips, or an unbendable, solid, metal paperclip, which can pick locks, complete circuits, clean out grime …
To ask the question is to answer it—seriously.
In the enemy base scenario, I would rather have a paperclip made out of military grade composite, which can have an arbitrary % of metal by mass, from 0% metal to >50% metal.
Do you not value paperclips made out of supermaterials more than metal paperclips?
Non-metal paperclips aren’t.
If you want to talk about making paperclip makers out of non-metals, you have a point.
If you want to claim that reasonable Clippys can disagree (before knowledge/value reconciliation) about how much metal content a paperclip can have before it’s bad, you have a point.
But in any case, composites must be constructed in their finished form. A fully-formed, fully-committed “block of composite”, where no demand for such a block exists, and certainly not at any good price, should be just as useless to you.
Are not some paperclips better than others? I (and you) would both get a lot more utility out of a paperclip made out of computronium than a paperclip made out of aluminum.