Re: Interesting concultural ideas

> Date:         Fri, 7 Dec 2001 00:50:41 +0100
> From: Almaran Dungeonmaster <dungeonmaster@...>
>
> Hey, I have a better idea: why don't we take a sphere, fill it up
> with mass [and make a planet out of it]. Anyone wish to comment?
Nice low-tech idea.

However, the point of a Dyson sphere is not primarily to provide
livable area, but to catch as much of the energy output of the star as
possible. Since mass is hard to create, it's a waste to put it inside
planets just to make gravity.

So all this discussion about providing gravity and atmosphere to the
inside of the sphere is a bit off track, really --- people who can
make a Dyson sphere also have the technology to live in bubbles on the
outside, where the star's gravity points the right way and they can
watch the pretty lights of the universe all the time.

However, I did read a novel once where some advanced race had built a
sphere for new spacefaring species to find and colonize --- the idea
being that there was room enough that by the time they filled it up,
they would either have evolved (socially) past the warlike stage and
be fit company for the previous graduates --- or forget their space
tech and become harmless.

Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)

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