MasterCaneman
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Joined: 3/21/2013
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quote:
ORIGINAL: MalcolmNathaniel
quote:
ORIGINAL: jlf1961
A question for the op:
Can you, with a clear conscience, actually want the humans to travel to another planet? Consider what the human race has done to this one. Add to that the simple tendency of humans to resort to violence to solve problems or disputes.
Is it obvious that I am a pessimist?
EARTH FIRST!
We can strip mine the other planets later.
Something no one has mentioned: Humans have an almost insatiable lust for blood.
The main reason why none of these plans have come to fruition is because of international laws and the fear of bad men getting ahold of these techs.
Know how much energy would be released just by dropping a 100kg ball from Geo-synch orbit? Answer: a metric fuck-ton.
That's the engineering answer; I could calculate the exact numbers but you get the point. All of the best answers for going to space are virtually indefensible. One small grenade could end up causing an Extinction Level Event.
My personal favorite is the space elevator/sky hook. It's virtually energy free. It's brilliant! It's genius! But snap it in the middle and say goodbye to over half of humanity.
Orion is cool as hell too. A pity about all of those open atmosphere nuclear detonations.
Traveling halfway across the Solar system is cool. Don't get me wrong.
First we have to make sure that the technology doesn't fall back to Earth in the wrong hands.
The second we fix that there will be no stopping endless waves of geeks from going to Mars. One way trip? BUT I GET TO LIVE ON MARS!
Couple of issues there. If a skyhook (as I understand it, sodding layman that I am) snaps, wouldn't it by default be flung off the planet because it's center of mass would be in GSO? Sure, the lower parts would fall back to Earth, but I doubt half of humanity is in mortal peril there. And Orion can still work. Just use a great honking conventional first stage or two to lift it into a 'safer' elevation. Or take Dyson's further extrapolations and go to pulse-fusion and ban the bomb altogether.
And this may sound sinister, but maybe if the 'bad guys' got hold of this tech, wouldn't it incite us to come up with countermeasures? Conflict drives technology and innovation more than anything else in history. If it weren't for the Evil and Ugly Soviet Union, we'd have puddled around with conventional tech for a long, long time.
And unless that 'one small grenade' looks like this:
I think we're pretty safe for now.
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< Message edited by MasterCaneman -- 5/17/2013 10:12:19 PM >
_____________________________
Age and treachery will always overcome youth and ambition.
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. ~ Sun Tzu
Goddess Wrangler
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RE: I want the WORLD to go to Mars....not just the Unit... - 
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