Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

PandaEven3982 t1_j8tgeme wrote

I don't think you can toss the masses around as casually as you think you can. You want to move planets? That's some immense values snd vectors of P you're going to need to change. How do you apply the ∆ V? I don't know the otder of magnitude of energy needed, but you'd probably need to convert solar energy into something that reshapes orbit.

1

danielravennest t1_j8tojdb wrote

> How do you apply the ∆ V?

Asteroid flybys. If they are massive enough, they cause a shift in a planet's orbit. Then you need to use Jupiter flybys to correct the asteroid for the next pass.

1

PandaEven3982 t1_j8tvijh wrote

You want to play celestial billiards by using bigger and bigger fly-by. You want to use 200 big asteroids to perturb Mercury the right direction?. Welp, you don't think small. I'm assuming you need a world government to pull this off?

1

danielravennest t1_j8u00ox wrote

My ideas have been known to make other space systems engineers run away screaming and pulling out their hair :-).

Moving the Earth will eventually be necessary, because the Sun is getting brighter over time. But it is not like, urgent. We have a few hundred million years to figure it out.

1

PandaEven3982 t1_j8u1n9u wrote

Grinz. I'm more focused on current species problems. Parenting that no longer works, economies that no longer makes sense, politics that is no longer relevant. :-) I'm thinking about ∆V at the sociological level and flat out moving to post scarcity today and finish in 40 years.

1

danielravennest t1_j8wmqvp wrote

Have you seen my book on Seed Factories? That's the idea of a starter set of machines that are used to make more machines for itself until you have a full range of industry. Using "smart tools" (automation, robotics, software, and AI) it should mostly run itself. A member cooperative can split the cost and make it affordable.

The real magic happens when a mature factory starts spitting out new starter sets. Then it can grow exponentially.

1

PandaEven3982 t1_j8wn8bg wrote

I don't wanna talk tech. The people are what need therapy and help.

Edit consider the pace of technology advancement versus the pace of social progress.

Edit yes I understand Von Neumann Machines.

1

danielravennest t1_j8wqhrb wrote

Von Neumann machines are fully automated, which is still too hard to do. A seed factory allows some human labor where needed. It just turns the output into self-expansion rather than cars or washing machines like a regular factory.

Also Von Neumann machines make an exact copy of themselves. That's "direct replication". They have to start with a full set of machines needed. Seed factories work like plant seeds. They start with the minimum set of equipment to allow growth, then eventually can make new starter sets. But the new starter sets are not identical to the grown factories.

Social progress is being held back by fear. Rural white people are afraid of losing their position on top of the "natural order of things" (their view, not mine). Having grown up in New York City in an immigrant family, I'm not afraid of people who are different than me. They are just people.

But if everyone is well enough off through productive means, you don't have to be afraid of losing out.

1

PandaEven3982 t1_j8wrbln wrote

Social progress is being held back by the work of Adam Smith, and the Puritan belief that idle hands are the devil's hands.

In 1982, America threw out 40% of the food it served. In the same year and for 3 decades, America alone spent as much celebrating Christmas as it would take to feed the world per capita a very rich diet for a full year. That's just one example. We are a wealthy species and our society does not reflect it.

1

Pornelius_McSucc OP t1_j8uvnmg wrote

the engineering hurdles are irrelevant. the fact that a certain amount of V would be sufficient, regardless of how, is the focus.

1