[Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Actually that planet sounds awful. We'd fight over it to much and most of us would end up as serfs just to get some protection.

Yes, well, if you really value your independence you can go live in some desolate mountain, desert, or arctic region. There are tradeoffs everywhere.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by whswhs

My experience is that people like living in places that have vegetation. And having warming weather is popular too; an awful lot of people go to warm places on their holidays.

Too much variability in what people like and can adapt to to make generalizations, I think.
Up until a few years ago, temperatures above 80 would have been hell. Now I'm wearing two shirts, a coat, and a warm hat indoors when it's only 67.

There are plenty of jokes involving scenes of what 60 degrees in Canada vs. California look like.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

There are plenty of jokes involving scenes of what 60 degrees in Canada vs. California look like.

Differences in measurement systems will do that. 60 degrees in Canada is 140 degrees in California...

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Differences in measurement systems will do that. 60 degrees in Canada is 140 degrees in California...

That's a different image showing 50 and 100 degrees in California and in Britain. But with the 100 in Britain showing lava and sarcastic looking skeletons.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Too much variability in what people like and can adapt to to make generalizations, I think.

For making generalizations, looking at the average behavior is the standard method. Things that large numbers of people do have a large influence on the average. Of course the average does not predict the behavior of an individual, or even of an atypical population. But that's not what it's for.

"I don't know how Nixon won. Nobody I know voted for him." (Pauline Kael, I believe.)

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by whswhs

My experience is that people like living in places that have vegetation. And having warming weather is popular too; an awful lot of people go to warm places on their holidays.

On the other hand, just because I like sea bathing doesn't mean I won't to be pickled in brine. Dense jungles during monsoons aren't nearly as popular as manicured parks in mild weather. Overall, I wouldn't peg a hot humid planet with highly chaotic high energy weather systems as a "gaia" world and that's what you could get with a dense wet atmosphere with relatively high partial CO2 pressures.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

On the other hand, just because I like sea bathing doesn't mean I won't to be pickled in brine. Dense jungles during monsoons aren't nearly as popular as manicured parks in mild weather. Overall, I wouldn't peg a hot humid planet with highly chaotic high energy weather systems as a "gaia" world and that's what you could get with a dense wet atmosphere with relatively high partial CO2 pressures.

That doesn't mean that we are at the optimal level (or even above it). The optimum might be lower than you describe, but higher than where we are. The fact that you can envision a higher point that's undesirable doesn't establish that every higher point is undesirable.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by whswhs

That doesn't mean that we are at the optimal level (or even above it).

Indeed, the very premise here is that there exists possible planets that are more habitable than homeworlds!

The optimum might be lower than you describe, but higher than where we are. The fact that you can envision a higher point that's undesirable doesn't establish that every higher point is undesirable.

Sure, but ericthered specified "As long as we can still breathe the air and go shirtsleeve and don't get knocked over by super hurricanes."

To which you responded that people like vegetation and warm weather. Which in context seems almost euphemistic, like a colony program trying to sell a hothouse as a paradise.

"What's it like there?"
"The habitable zone is mostly dense rainforest with an average surface temperature of 40 degrees and nearly 100% humidity. There's also two permanent cyclonic systems."
"So put 'lush vegetation and warm weather' in the brochure!"

Which seems to say that a hypothetical gaia would need to be at a stable equilibrium state that's rather high entropy and just short of mama bear's porridge.

[Warlockco]

To me a "Gaia" type world is going to be an idealized version of Earth as far as what a human would think.

So first off gravity is going to be 1 gravity.
The world with most likely be 2/3 to 3/4 water, mostly in oceans.
All Terran crops and animals can live and thrive on the world without any adaptation.
All native crops and animals can be consumed without any adaptation.
Axial tilt of the world will be roughly 23.5 degrees, so seasons and weather patterns should be close to Earth normal.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Warlockco

To me a "Gaia" type world is going to be an idealized version of Earth as far as what a human would think.

So first off gravity is going to be 1 gravity.
The world with most likely be 2/3 to 3/4 water, mostly in oceans.
All Terran crops and animals can live and thrive on the world without any adaptation.
All native crops and animals can be consumed without any adaptation.
Axial tilt of the world will be roughly 23.5 degrees, so seasons and weather patterns should be close to Earth normal.

That's Earth, which is by definition not a Gaia world.