I have seen the light...
Wait, no I didn't, I am underground.
Captain Mole, remind the crew whose idea this was?
Wait, no I didn't, I am underground.
Captain Mole, remind the crew whose idea this was?
That rant against Mars colonization has quite a few flaws. It makes it sound like the whole idea is totally impossible, ignoring the fact that technology keeps evolving. The freezer analogy is just a straw man argument that dismisses real scientific work, and comparing Mars to places like the South Pole or Mount Everest doesn’t really hold up because they’re different in important ways.
The attack on musk feels more like a personal dig than a solid argument, and brushing off the idea of colonizing Mars to protect humanity from future disasters is pretty shortsighted, even if it's unrealistic in the short term. And I don't even like musk.
Ugh, I want my 10 minutes back.
The attack on musk feels more like a personal dig than a solid argument, and brushing off the idea of colonizing Mars to protect humanity from future disasters is pretty shortsighted, even if it's unrealistic in the short term. And I don't even like musk.
Ugh, I want my 10 minutes back.
Musk hasn't raped and pillaged Earth. That was the shortsighted us that purchased a Tesla to go buy potatoes in a boutique store 50 miles away.
Our intelligence seemingly has no limit, as does our shortsightedness.
Jan
Our intelligence seemingly has no limit, as does our shortsightedness.
Jan
Once you’re travelling at close to c, the opportunity to scoop up matter to use as fuel increases dramatically. There’s about 2-3 hydrogen atoms per m^3 In interstellar space. If you were able to scoop say 1000 m^3 at a time (that’s a cube with 33 m sides, so not so big), multiplied by distance travelled at c gives 3000 hydrogen atoms * 300 million metered travelled. I get about 130k joules from a 100% E=mc^2 matter to energy conversion process. That’s not really possible, but let’s say it’s 70% efficient (a thermonuclear devices is about 10% IIRC so there’s work to do here on improving things), that’s 100k joules.
In intergalactic space, free hydrogen atoms drop to .2 to .3 per m^3, so there’s not so much fuel available.
It would be interesting for some imperative to arrive, which makes Mars colonization the only chance for human survival. As we've seen in the reaction to COVID-19, DNA altering technology can be useful if there's a strong enough imperative to use it.
We could modify the DNA of some people to tolerate long space journeys, and life on Mars. But would they still be humans?
We could modify the DNA of some people to tolerate long space journeys, and life on Mars. But would they still be humans?
Theoretical physicist and writer Freeman Dyson was known as a "free thinker" who "dreamt among the stars".
In 1958 he worked with a team of 40 scientists on project Orion. The objective was to design a spaceship that would be propelled into deep space by a series of controlled nuclear explosions. By such means it was hoped to reach Mars by 1965, but 1963's Test Ban Treaty halted further experimentation.
In the novel 'Footfall' by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle, the Orion spaceship which combats the ships of the invading Fithp is called 'Michael', named after the Archangel who cast Lucifer out of Heaven.
Buck Rogers (1931) - It would appear that the derelict space ship has stopped rotating!
It is said that Elon Musk scoffed at Jeff Bezos' vision of using a giant O'Neill cylinder to support an entire ecosystem in space, saying it "makes no sense".
https://medium.com/@lynwerkledges/t...incredible-civilisation-in-space-fef75b499710
Are you sure about DNA altering? I associate the C-19 vaccine with messenger RNA.
When you are scooping up all that mass of hydrogen while your imaginary ship is travelling at C, remember that each of those stationary hydrogen molecules will need to be accelerated to C virtually instantaneously for this scheme to work. Since F=m x a and in this case "m" (at rest) is quite small but "m" at C is infinite and "a" is incredibly large, the product of m x a is infinite. The last time I worked this on my slide rule that would require an infinite amount of energy for each hydrogen molecule scooped up. Ah well, on to Plan Z.
Re: Freeman Dyson, I believe his most prized idea was the Dyson Sphere.
Basically a huge sphere around a star with the inhabitants living on the inside surface.
Sort of inverse earth. Practically unlimited living space and energy.
Some have proposed to look for Dyson Spheres in the universe, they should be hot but dark objects since a Type II Dyson Sphere fully encloses it's parent star.
Jan
Basically a huge sphere around a star with the inhabitants living on the inside surface.
Sort of inverse earth. Practically unlimited living space and energy.
Some have proposed to look for Dyson Spheres in the universe, they should be hot but dark objects since a Type II Dyson Sphere fully encloses it's parent star.
Jan
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Ian m Banks and Neal Asher both write about futures in which AI and humans can coexist post singularity. AI may not need humans, but they don't really need planets either and keeping us on the straight and narrow provided a pleasing pastime.
Of course Dune and it's many sequels points in another direction...
Bob Shaw's Orbitsville novels were set on a Dyson sphere. Never really understood where the gravity came from.
To me at least Niven & Pournelle were on firmer ground with the Ringworld. I could see how that could be made to work. Kinda. Sorta.
Should that level of catastrophe ever befall us 'entire' will be a very small number.
Is that a necessary precondition? We only need so much sperm and ovaries for humanities survival...
Still, as it's the rich and pampered I suspect mars will be a bit too tough for them for quite a few years.
Then again, imagine the Kardashians on mars. It's an enticing thought...
Yes, a ringworld is technically much simpler than a Dyson Sphere.
And by smart positioning/orbiting you can cause an articifical day/night rhythm just like we have today but without seasons. A small price for survival.
Jan
About day/night rhythm. We developed on earth with its 12/24hr rhythm thus we evolved with the need to have a dark/sleep period covering that.
When we would move to a space habitat, we need to provide for this of course.
But there's no reason why, over time, we could not evolve to another rhythm or different time duration of waking/sleeping periods better fitting the new habitat.
I find that interesting, no idea how long or how many generations something like that would take when the incentive is strong.
Jan
When we would move to a space habitat, we need to provide for this of course.
But there's no reason why, over time, we could not evolve to another rhythm or different time duration of waking/sleeping periods better fitting the new habitat.
I find that interesting, no idea how long or how many generations something like that would take when the incentive is strong.
Jan
Some of the Universe's stars have gone missing, leaving behind no trace of their past existence!
Surveys show hundreds of stars have gone missing over the past century and astronomers are unsure of what has happened to them.
Believe it or not, one hypothesis is that the construction of Dyson spheres by advanced civilisations may have obscured the light from some of these stars!
Dyson sphere construction
Arthur C. Clarke stated in his Third Law that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". If no natural cause for a stellar disappearance can be found, then why not consider the influence of intelligent extraterrestrials as a possible explanation?
https://www.space.com/hunt-for-universe-missing-stars-space-mysteries