02-09-2017, 06:14 AM | #1 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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[Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').
Greetings, all!
Some of you might recognize the term from MoO2. This is a type of garden worlds that is considered to have an extremely high Habitability - in fact higher than the homeworld. Notably, it's meant to represent the kind of condition that (a) allow a higher population cap for a given TL than a homeworld of the same size provides and (b) facilitates even better agricultural yields than our world's. So I'm curious: What should a planet be actually like in order to provide such benefits for us Terrans? For the sake of the experiment, assume that the planet's 'wild' ecosystem is loosely derived from and/or fully compatible with ours. It doesn't matter whether such a planet has been terraformed to such a state artificially, made by sufficiently advanced aliens, or just came about through infinitesimally unlikely luckiness. Thanks in advance! |
02-09-2017, 06:41 AM | #2 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: [Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').
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02-09-2017, 07:07 AM | #3 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: [Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').
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02-09-2017, 07:07 AM | #4 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: [Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').
Minimal deserts, mountains, and other "non-arable" areas. Much of the land on earth is locked up in "Useless" deserts. The human population tends to be concentrated on a limited number of "bread baskets".
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! |
02-09-2017, 07:32 AM | #5 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: [Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').
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02-09-2017, 12:55 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: [Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').
Raise the carbon dioxide level. On one hand, photosynthesis is more efficient with more carbon dioxide; in fact our current level is a bit lower than optimal, and some plants have apparently evolved a new photosynthetic pathway to adapt to this. On the other hand, you'll get warmer temperatures, and I've read that cold is more lethal than heat. Certainly this amounts to a recommendation for global warming, but some of the issues with global warming appear to relate more to the rate at which it takes place and the difficulty in adapting to changing climate and sea level in a hurry than to the absolute levels. Of course you wouldn't want the classic SF Venus, but something like Earth in the Eocene might have its advantages.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
02-09-2017, 01:24 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: [Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').
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In the *really* long run, I'm not so sure Golden Age Venus would be going too far. Ultimately if it has more biomass, I'd think a civilization that could control the same fraction of it and redirect it for its own purposes would be richer for it. Differently than we are now perhaps, but better off.
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-- MA Lloyd |
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02-09-2017, 01:27 PM | #8 | |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: [Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').
Quote:
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! |
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02-09-2017, 01:34 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: [Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').
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.
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02-09-2017, 01:44 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: [Space] What is the 'Gaia' type of garden worlds like? ('Habitability 9').
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.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
Tags |
agriculture, ecology, ecosystem, gaia, habitability, space |
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