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Thursday, 03 February 2000
Anders Sandberg wrote:
>
[snip]
You could have these as crude and shallow undersea habitats too.
Remember the extensible inflatable tunnels near the end of
Stephenson's _The Diamond Age_? With this you could have cylinders or
domes grown from the bottom-up in stages. If the tops are airtight,
you could capture gas liberated by electrolysis. I doubt you could
actually produce breathable atmosphere, but it might do for fiction.
>
> Yes, this is definitely something I had planned on using. A very
nice
> idea, and probably necessary for setting up the basic framework on
> which to build the rest of the sea construction. Possibly it could
be
> done using conducting polymers made by modified bacteria or plants,
> powered by solar cells. Hmm, maybe islet farms in the tropics, where
> the constructions grow until ready to be seeded with more biotech
and
> eventually harvested and sold to the highest bidder...
>
> > I assume any Chinese Civil War will involve action against
Taiwan at
> > some point. Without serious collapse of American military prowess
> > naval action among People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), US Navy,
and
> > Taiwanese forces seems reasonable.
>
A few million? Good Lord, what do they use for transports? That makes
the Miracle at Dunkirk look like recreational boating. How long does
this last? A year? Two? Remember to study seasonal storms, Anders.
There might be really nasty weather effects on the evacuation. (That's
a euphemism for vast loss of human life.) It might be interesting if
they're towing icebergs from the growing glaciers from the polar
regions for both drinking water and for cheap limited-use hulls.
> Well, the real problem is a few million refugees (just a few
millions
> because the others didn't get boats in time). This kind of ships (or
> rafts) may play a significant role in the evacuation. At this point
(I
> put the civil war at 2014) biotech is not yet as good as later on
and
> the national states are still forces to be reconed with.
>
> > Any side involved might use this technique to produce cheap hulls
> > for "Liberty Ships" or low magnetic signature mines. If your
> > scenario has vessels using screws for propulsion then they remain
> > vulnerable to entangling wires. Reinforcing such traps with
> > electrodeposition might make them more effective. On the other
hand,
> > I suspect magnetohydrodynamic propulsion would prove very
sensitive
> > to changes in the gross electrical properties of its working
> > fluid. Perhaps salting (no pun intended) the sea lanes with plants
> > that release this material would damage or slow MHD-propelled
> > vessels.
>
> Maybe a defensive water hyacinth? Especially designed to accumulate
> iron filings so that when it passes through the MHD it does real
> damage...
>
> > If naval action plays a role in your next SF scenario, I'd
> > like to make further suggestions off list.
>
> I have not planned much of that, but I gladly listen to your
> suggestions. It is this kind of ideas and extrapolations I really
want
> to add in.
>
Over the weekend I will send you some ideas about future naval
warfare. If there's interest, I'll send them here, but I think they're
pretty far from extropian themes.
> At the start of the scenario my players will be dealing with the
local
> politics of the Republic of Sichuan, but I expect the focus to move
> out globally after a while.
>
You're welcome, Anders. That review helped lead to some piecework
assignments for a sci-fi RPG set for GEN CON 2000 release.
> BTW, I think I never thanked you properly for your RPG-net review of
> BIGV. Thank you! I think it was right on spot, and mentioned a few
> things I will try to fix in new versions.
>
> --
>
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Anders Sandberg Towards
Ascension!
> asa@nada.kth.se
http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
> GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+
!y
- --
Jay Dugger : til_e@hotmail.com
Til Eulenspiegel : duggerj@mindspring.com
Sometimes the delete key is your best friend.
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