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Old 09-13-2019, 10:40 AM   #37
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Hypothetically, a swarm of dwarf planets could provide enough gravity to form an asteroid/come try cloud with a mass equivalent of the Kuiper Belt (RVM+2 to RVM+4). A TL10 society could colonize such an object and support a population between 4 billion and 15 billion people (depending on the RVM), though they would be dependent on fusion for energy (not a major issue at TL10). As long as they maintained their population levels above 500 million, they should not face any major issues beyond the threats of their environment.
I don't know. It seems as if it could be interesting to set a story in a world where you need, oh, 500 billion people to maintain economic and technological functionality, and face new and exotic challenges from that scale that require quite different institutions.
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