Maintaining and advancing the infrastructure that allows and encourages other humans to fashion such objects? Though admittedly that’s a derivative value.
Do humans have a use besides holding paper together, or fashioning metallic objects that do so?
Is it acceptable to make paperclips out of, say, bone? Or are the humans only useful for the iron they contain (and a touch of carbon to form the alloy.)
It’s a matter of what kind of paperclipper it is. If it was created to make paperclips where paperclips are defined as steel paperclips of given dimensions then it doesn’t matter how advanced it becomes. It’ll make steel paperclips.
Mind you it can still use our atoms in a fusion generator.
It just occurred to me that it is iron that is the building material required. That being the case everything in the human body (and the universe) represents either a building material or a potential source of nuclear energy. How convenient!
The second sentence begins with an absolute phrase. My Little, Brown Handbook says that these are “always set off from the rest of the sentence with punctuation, usually a comma”. In this instance the comma would come between “case” and “everything”.
Do humans have uses besides holding paper together, or fashioning metallic objects that do so?
Maintaining and advancing the infrastructure that allows and encourages other humans to fashion such objects? Though admittedly that’s a derivative value.
Is it acceptable to make paperclips out of, say, bone? Or are the humans only useful for the iron they contain (and a touch of carbon to form the alloy.)
I think a sufficiently advanced clippy would be able to do a lot more than steel.
It’s a matter of what kind of paperclipper it is. If it was created to make paperclips where paperclips are defined as steel paperclips of given dimensions then it doesn’t matter how advanced it becomes. It’ll make steel paperclips.
Mind you it can still use our atoms in a fusion generator.
It just occurred to me that it is iron that is the building material required. That being the case everything in the human body (and the universe) represents either a building material or a potential source of nuclear energy. How convenient!
Huh? I think your grammar broke. Or you’re trying for some kind of very far fetched pun. Either way, please clarify.
The second sentence begins with an absolute phrase. My Little, Brown Handbook says that these are “always set off from the rest of the sentence with punctuation, usually a comma”. In this instance the comma would come between “case” and “everything”.
Not especially. I simplified things somewhat but I don’t think it was necessary.
I’m confused. What isn’t clear? The physics reference?
huh? No. The confusing parts are “building material” and “represents” I think.