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Old 10-15-2018, 02:54 PM   #731
Astromancer
 
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Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

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This thread on The End of the World suggests a setting to me, basically, an extension of my Posting from a comment to a setting.
Some further notes...

Japan is in a strange place in this setting. The mood is paranoia with lots of denial. Some things seem pleasant even charming. Except for places where it would be impractical, like mechanics, medical personnel, farming, etc., people have moved back to traditional costume. It isn't like a cult, people who are more comfortable in western style clothing aren't even seen as out of fashion. But it is everywhere.

Films deal either with fantasy subjects set in Japan's past before the 20th century or with pre 20th century history. There hasn't been a film set in contemporary Japan made in Japan for twenty years or more. Science Fiction is also exclusively wild comedies reminiscent of Dirty Pair and other over the top manga.

Japan is totally disengaged with the world except in a few small ways meant to preserve that disengagement.

Indonesia is holding on. The weather is bad, but the rain is regular, if scary, and they can grow enough rice and vegetables to feed themselves. The unity of the islands is weakened by floods of refugees, religious fanatics (note these aren't in only one faith and the majority of Indonesian Muslins would see acting like a "nutcase" as UnIslamic), insane weather, and the total collapse of trade. Still, their alliances to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, the USA, and the remaining European democracies give them lifelines and reasons to stick it out as a unity.

There are space colonies in this setting. They are self-sufficient or they'd be dead. There are less than one hundred thousand people living off world. They send down loads of rare minerals in one use reentry vehicles. Space launches are few and far between.

More later...
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Old 10-15-2018, 04:08 PM   #732
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One potentially source of conflict in this setting is phosphates, given that such minerals are needed for life and food production. Existing terrestrial mining is expected to hit peak phosphorus in less than a century. There are two likely sources left. Kreep mining on the moon and undersea mining on the Chatham rise in NZ territorial waters. The nature of high intensity vertical farms makes them very reliant....
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Old 10-15-2018, 09:34 PM   #733
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Mining the moon for phosphorus is very expensive. The lowest realistic price, even if you optimized everything, would be around $50 per kilogram, which is anywhere from 50x to 100x the historical price. It actually gets to the point where it is cheaper to export people to space colonies than to import the phosphorus needed to support them.
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Old 10-16-2018, 12:01 AM   #734
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One potentially source of conflict in this setting is phosphates, given that such minerals are needed for life and food production.
Recovery from sewage?
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Old 10-16-2018, 12:07 AM   #735
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Recovery from sewage?
Quite possible, price may be an issue depending on what chemicals get mixed in. But if the recovery from sewage started too late there wouldn't be much phosphorus in the system.
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Old 10-16-2018, 12:22 AM   #736
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So where have all the phosphates used historically ended up? In landfills, or around sewage outfalls? It might mean mining or sifting coastal seabeds for trace amounts, particularly areas downriver of agricultural centres. I think the Great Barrier Reef has suffered from phosphate fertiliser run-off, so it could be a final insult to the reef when the phospur-reclaimer machines move in.
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Old 10-16-2018, 12:31 AM   #737
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So where have all the phosphates used historically ended up? In landfills, or around sewage outfalls? It might mean mining or sifting coastal seabeds for trace amounts, particularly areas downriver of agricultural centres. I think the Great Barrier Reef has suffered from phosphate fertiliser run-off, so it could be a final insult to the reef when the phospur-reclaimer machines move in.
A combination of the sewage outfalls and landfills (I think). The oceanic dumped phosphorus may be too diffuse to be useful. Mining reefs might work, it does fit the world is falling apart vibe. It may also be a good source of conflict.
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Old 10-16-2018, 06:39 AM   #738
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Well, algae would pick up the excess phosphorus and nitrogen in freshwater and seawater, so you could have algae farms that produce fertilizer rather than biofuel (generally a better idea when you look at the economics). While you would need to extract the salt, the remainder would be an adequate substitute for manure, as it would contain a wide variety of useful minerals. Honestly, I could see a future civilization that uses fusion to power giant desalination plants that produce sufficient water to green the temperate and tropical deserts and to power the algae farms that produce the fertilizer required to green the temperate and tropical deserts.
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Old 10-16-2018, 08:37 AM   #739
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Well, algae would pick up the excess phosphorus and nitrogen in freshwater and seawater, so you could have algae farms that produce fertilizer ...
Cough seaweed cough.
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Old 10-16-2018, 08:44 AM   #740
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Cough seaweed cough.
Yes, but freshwater algae will also do.
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