New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Nitrogen is fairly common on Venus. With higher solar winds and no fuel expenses for solar sails, it could prove economical to scrape Venus's atmosphere. A floating city would be able to remain buoyant in the upper atmosphere with an atmospheric gas mix.

Would they explore Carl Sagan's ideas about using microbes to terraform Venus?

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Would they explore Carl Sagan's ideas about using microbes to terraform Venus?

Could be problematic. Sagan, himself, said he came up with that idea pretty early on, before anyone really understood the conditions on that planet.

Because of that, Sagan said he later decided using microbes to terraform Venus had pretty much zero chance of ever working, unless conditions on Venus started to change radically for some other reason.

Build a soletta out at Venus' L1, maybe, to angle the sunlight away from the planet, and it should radiate more heat than it generates.

You just need a set of angled solar mirrors arranged in a circle with a diameter of four times the diameter of the planet, itself. Rotating to provide stability, of course. :)

After a few (or a few dozen) centuries, things on Venus should get cool enough to introduce the algae and what-not, and those microbes might have a chance to speed things along.

[AlexanderHowl]

Venus possesses many problems, the atmosphere and the heat only being only two of them. It is bone dry, meaning that you would need to transport around 1.2 quintillion metric tons of water to Venus to make it habitable after you dealt with the heat. If you lowered the heat and added water, then any life that you added could deal with the excess atmosphere (carbon dioxide and nitrogen added to the hydrogen in the water becomes organic material). The added water also delays future greenhouse events because it requires a lot of energy to heat.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Venus possesses many problems, the atmosphere and the heat only being only two of them. It is bone dry, meaning that you would need to transport around 1.2 quintillion metric tons of water to Venus to make it habitable after you dealt with the heat. If you lowered the heat and added water, then any life that you added could deal with the excess atmosphere (carbon dioxide and nitrogen added to the hydrogen in the water becomes organic material). The added water also delays future greenhouse events because it requires a lot of energy to heat.

Redirecting comets into either Venus or Mars would be a practical means for a TL9 spacefaring society to make either planet wetter.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The Orphans

This is a simple post-apocalyptic idea. Allow the development of a circumlunar infrastructure and a cluster of O'Neill cylinders or other Space Habitat to taste. The space habitats are working on a program of independence from planetary imports. Mainly to make them less expensive and to make the phases in extraplanetary settlement more practical. The Moon has multiple bases and functions as the mine for the Space Habitats.

Given how many reaction posts I've gotten not such a simple idea after all. Here's a question, since people need and do art, what directions would you think art would take in this setting?

I think Music would seem less changed although single instrumentalists and small ensembles would predominate. Which means art music would be more changed than popular music.

Theatre would have to move toward simpler sets, which tends toward better plays historically.

Film and TV would exist, but what would it be like?

The visual arts would really change, gallery space would be very rare and customers for art dealers more so. My guess, and that's all it is, is that art books would be the future. Combine present-day art books with Pop-up books and other similar toys, and you'd have an interactive art gallery in a book. Video games could become virtual art galleries as well.

I have no idea how the literary arts would evolve. I'd assume short forms would be more likely.

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Redirecting comets into either Venus or Mars would be a practical means for a TL9 spacefaring society to make either planet wetter.

Not really, as there just are not enough comets in the Sol System, since 1.2 quintillion metric tons of water would be 1.32 billion cubic kilometers of ice. A slightly more feasible idea would be to take a large KBO (~1,000 kilometers in radius), cover it with reflective materials, and slowly move it into orbit around Venus over the course of a couple of centuries through the use of a 300 TW fusion engine. When it is in Venutian orbit, you could mine it for ice over a thousand years, though you will probably lose around two-thirds of it due to reaction mass for transportation and evaporation during mining.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The Orphans

This is a simple post-apocalyptic idea. Allow the development of a circumlunar infrastructure and a cluster of O'Neill cylinders or other Space Habitat to taste. The space habitats are working on a program of independence from planetary imports. Mainly to make them less expensive and to make the phases in extraplanetary settlement more practical. The Moon has multiple bases and functions as the mine for the Space Habitats.

This will work fine if you get the order on the steps right and don't treat it as a civilization without inputs. You need to get your mass inputs from somewhere. That doesn't mean that your civilization needs to live near the inputs though. You can have industries on Titan and in the belt that ship goods to your space habitats. If earth isn't an option, habitats in the inner system probably ARE the cheapest place to live. You just need to get the materials from elsewhere.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

(SNIP)

The visual arts would really change, gallery space would be very rare and customers for art dealers more so. My guess, and that's all it is, is that art books would be the future. Combine present-day art books with Pop-up books and other similar toys, and you'd have an interactive art gallery in a book. Video games could become virtual art galleries as well.

Oh, you'd probably see more stuff like this, for sure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsGOV88ofqo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-ISVPu1M2k

But you also need to think about art differently, and not perceive it as "something" you have to "go somewhere" to see.

For instance, here in the six counties that comprise the Denver metro area, we have a sales tax to support a Science and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). In addition to funding our main cultural attractions (Denver Art Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Botanic Gardens, the Zoo), it also provides grants, tuition support and other such things for artists.

That means we have an "incubator" system for artists, in this city.

Also, a Denver city ordinance requires that one percent of all money spent on public works projects with budgets of more than $1 million go to incorporate art into those projects. As a result, just walking down the street or through the parks allows citizens to see stuff such as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEHFmj3gE3g

Now then, I'm not a huge fan of everything, but other bits I like a lot. The Blue Bear (“I See What You Mean") has become a semi-official mascot of the city. It's certainly an icon of downtown.

https://www.denver.org/things-to-do/...e-bear-artist/

Basically, art gets integrated into everyday life, and a lot of it gets made by local artists who got those initial grants. You don't go to a gallery to see it -- it's just there, wherever you go.

Originally Posted by Astromancer

I have no idea how the literary arts would evolve. I'd assume short forms would be more likely.

Meh. Memory is cheap. You can store a lot of literature in something as small and convenient as a thumb-drive, even today.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Oh, you'd probably see more stuff like this, for sure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsGOV88ofqo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-ISVPu1M2k

But you also need to think about art differently, and not perceive it as "something" you have to "go somewhere" to see.

A good point. An Artspace might easily be an intellectual Disneyland. Certainly, many amusement parks are interactive popular art. I could see a more coherent and ambitious "Interactive space" that crossed the streams between performance art, amusement park, art exhibit, game, and educational experience.

For instance, here in the six counties that comprise the Denver metro area, we have a sales tax to support a Science and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). In addition to funding our main cultural attractions (Denver Art Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Botanic Gardens, the Zoo), it also provides grants, tuition support and other such things for artists.

That means we have an "incubator" system for artists, in this city.

Building a space to be bohemian in. Tricky but it seems worthwhile.

Also, a Denver city ordinance requires that one percent of all money spent on public works projects with budgets of more than $1 million go to incorporate art into those projects. As a result, just walking down the street or through the parks allows citizens to see stuff such as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEHFmj3gE3g

I like that idea. Certainly, on a Space habitat, you'd extend that principle as a psychological defense against the artificial nature of the habitat itself.

Now then, I'm not a huge fan of everything, but other bits I like a lot. The Blue Bear (“I See What You Mean") has become a semi-official mascot of the city. It's certainly an icon of downtown.

https://www.denver.org/things-to-do/...e-bear-artist/

Basically, art gets integrated into everyday life, and a lot of it gets made by local artists who got those initial grants. You don't go to a gallery to see it -- it's just there, wherever you go.

A solid way to go.

Meh. Memory is cheap. You can store a lot of literature in something as small and convenient as a thumb-drive, even today.

I assumed that the time to read and assimilate triple-decker novels and 12,000 verse epics might be wanting. Shorter works might fit into people's lives better.

[Astromancer]

Faraway

"The land gained the name Faraway soon after people came here. I've also heard it called Hyperborea, the Thrice-Tenth Kingdom, Neverland, the back of beyond, and the Outer Zone. Whatever, it isn't where we came from. They say we're on a distant planet too far from Earth to even figure out how far away from Earth we are. Some say the gods or God put us here as a blessing or curse. Others blame fairies, aliens, or the C.I.A. whatever the last one is. Still, we are here and we don't know how we got here."

Basically, humans, both individuals, and communities have been moved to this planet. Scholars have determined that the planet is somewhat younger than the Earth and had no life forms until fairly recently. The planet generally looks like Earth, except it has the wrong number of moons and some nearby stars that are nearly as bright as Earth's Luna.

The planetary population is about 300 million people. As written the populations seem to have been brought to this planet from about the year 1600AD until 2100AD and mainly from the most technologically advanced societies.

Some areas are homogeneous others are wildly polyglot. A wide variety of political settings are around too. Monarchies, republics, dictatorships, democracies, even some functional anarchist communities. There are no large continents, none as large as Australia, but there seems to be a somewhat higher land to water ratio than on Earth, a higher percentage of arable land, and navigatable seas. The general tech level reflects the problem of dumping people on a distant world and expecting them to recreate their society. TL 5 is the norm in the countryside, in poorer areas it can be a low TL5. Large towns tend toward TL6, those with better trade connections are generally TL7. The countryside around these towns is generally at TL6. The largest and richest cities are at TL8 with TL9 universities and hospitals. As the economy improves the Tech Level difference between town and country gets smaller and fades.



More later...