I’m going to name my new space company “The Washington Redskins”, since the copy-write has been freed up.As a promo, we’ll provide free Ebola infected blankets to any alien civilization we encounter.
I find illogical the many movies that portray space-faring civilizations in hugely populated vehicles that come all the way to Earth just to be trapped in a gravity well (“Independence Day,” “V”) If they can survive in space for long voyages, they can certainly take advantage of all the resources out there in greater quantities, and far more easily. .So far, humans have a planet-gravity chauvinism that keeps us from developing space industries and O’Neill–type habitats. Until we move industries into space, to where the real resources can be attained and exploited, we will be trapped on a world increasingly polluted and of diminishing resources. As appeared in the Niven/ Pournelle novel, “Lucifer’s Hammer”: “Out there in space it’s raining soup, and we don’t even know about soup bowls.”.And so, in FOOTFALL, there is the conflict among alien invaders, “Sleepers” and “Spaceborn,” as they plan the Earth invasion. The old faction longs for a planetary environment such as they knew; while those in the new faction have a fear of such a wide-open, potentially unfriendly environment. The alien “planet-philes” cause the invasion to fail, and all is lost for them..Eventually the same conflict will come to humanity. Space exploration is an investment. Everything Else is Out There.. And if I can put a plug in for the great Pohl novel, THE WORLD AT THE END OF TIME: it portrays how space habitats can out of necessity completely and effectively be utilized, take over, then its inhabitants re-colonize a world for purposes of nostalgia. An inadequate summary of a great work of speculative fiction.
Consider for the far future the possibility of Dyson spheres that completely encompass a star out to, for instance, the approximate distance between Venus and Earth. THE TIME SHIPS, by Stephen Baxter, portrays such a thing..And in an episode of “Star Trek:The Next Generation” Scotty has crashed on the surface of one — how ridiculous that such an (abandoned) artifact was not celebrated as a fantastic find. If Ringworld contains the equivalent of 3 million Earth-size planet surfaces, how much more on the inner surface of a Dyson sphere?.I recall my fascination with such things in my youth. The first thing I read of Carl Sagan was in a “Popular Science” article in the early ‘60s, wherein he proposed injected specially tailored plants into the atmosphere of Venus to reduce the heavy layer of CO2..I really believe the purpose of any planet-evolved species is to eventually make it into space. More and more I think that humans will not survive long enough to do that. .Jerry Pournelle has numerous stories and articles that make space colonies seem the inevitable, logical thing..I haven’t considered these things for many years, so thanks for helping to recall to myself my own youthful enthusiasm.
Honest, Science Fiction is a small part of my reading. But what I read is by good authors and intelligently speculative — except when strict adherence to scientific principles ruins a good plot..“That brings up the question of what to do about the more or less routine blasts of matter from the Sun on a sphere or ring. With enough energy from the sun and superconducting wires, one could rig a defense.”.I can’t help but think you’re being coy in not mentioning this as a major topic that runs through the RINGWORLD novels and is supposedly solved. .You might read, if you haven’t already, Pohl’s MINING THE OORT, in which a specialized corps of spacers capture comets to “terreform” Mars.
BaltoBill over 9 years ago
I’m going to name my new space company “The Washington Redskins”, since the copy-write has been freed up.As a promo, we’ll provide free Ebola infected blankets to any alien civilization we encounter.
Thomas R. Williams over 9 years ago
So the Kochs are really Neoplastic Babyheads from Other Space?
moosemin over 9 years ago
And congress still hasn’t figured out how to collect taxes from the Internet sales! Better get crackin’, guys!
Theodore E. Lind Premium Member over 9 years ago
Hey it is better the Koch brothers spend their money getting us into space rather than political adds and PACs. They might accidentally do some good.
emptc12 over 9 years ago
I find illogical the many movies that portray space-faring civilizations in hugely populated vehicles that come all the way to Earth just to be trapped in a gravity well (“Independence Day,” “V”) If they can survive in space for long voyages, they can certainly take advantage of all the resources out there in greater quantities, and far more easily. .So far, humans have a planet-gravity chauvinism that keeps us from developing space industries and O’Neill–type habitats. Until we move industries into space, to where the real resources can be attained and exploited, we will be trapped on a world increasingly polluted and of diminishing resources. As appeared in the Niven/ Pournelle novel, “Lucifer’s Hammer”: “Out there in space it’s raining soup, and we don’t even know about soup bowls.”.And so, in FOOTFALL, there is the conflict among alien invaders, “Sleepers” and “Spaceborn,” as they plan the Earth invasion. The old faction longs for a planetary environment such as they knew; while those in the new faction have a fear of such a wide-open, potentially unfriendly environment. The alien “planet-philes” cause the invasion to fail, and all is lost for them..Eventually the same conflict will come to humanity. Space exploration is an investment. Everything Else is Out There.. And if I can put a plug in for the great Pohl novel, THE WORLD AT THE END OF TIME: it portrays how space habitats can out of necessity completely and effectively be utilized, take over, then its inhabitants re-colonize a world for purposes of nostalgia. An inadequate summary of a great work of speculative fiction.
emptc12 over 9 years ago
Consider for the far future the possibility of Dyson spheres that completely encompass a star out to, for instance, the approximate distance between Venus and Earth. THE TIME SHIPS, by Stephen Baxter, portrays such a thing..And in an episode of “Star Trek:The Next Generation” Scotty has crashed on the surface of one — how ridiculous that such an (abandoned) artifact was not celebrated as a fantastic find. If Ringworld contains the equivalent of 3 million Earth-size planet surfaces, how much more on the inner surface of a Dyson sphere?.I recall my fascination with such things in my youth. The first thing I read of Carl Sagan was in a “Popular Science” article in the early ‘60s, wherein he proposed injected specially tailored plants into the atmosphere of Venus to reduce the heavy layer of CO2..I really believe the purpose of any planet-evolved species is to eventually make it into space. More and more I think that humans will not survive long enough to do that. .Jerry Pournelle has numerous stories and articles that make space colonies seem the inevitable, logical thing..I haven’t considered these things for many years, so thanks for helping to recall to myself my own youthful enthusiasm.
emptc12 over 9 years ago
Honest, Science Fiction is a small part of my reading. But what I read is by good authors and intelligently speculative — except when strict adherence to scientific principles ruins a good plot..“That brings up the question of what to do about the more or less routine blasts of matter from the Sun on a sphere or ring. With enough energy from the sun and superconducting wires, one could rig a defense.”.I can’t help but think you’re being coy in not mentioning this as a major topic that runs through the RINGWORLD novels and is supposedly solved. .You might read, if you haven’t already, Pohl’s MINING THE OORT, in which a specialized corps of spacers capture comets to “terreform” Mars.