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Old 06-17-2013, 07:43 AM   #1
Astromancer
 
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Default Apres Moi

Because of the THS alt History thread it occurs to me that a 2100 where the Western Antartic ice sheet collapsed (the quickest actually fesible, if unlikely, way to rapidly raise world sea levels) would make a dramatic twist on the setting. The seas would be about twenty-five to thirty feet higher than our present. Cities like Miami, New Orleans, Cairo, New York, Shanghai, Amsterdam, Calcutta, and London, would be either drowned or simply uninhabitable from the collapse of the sewer, water, and transportation systems.

Half to two-thirds of the population of Egypt would have to find someplace else to live. In the Ganges and Irrawady deltas more than a 150 million people would have to flee. I've no idea how many tens of millions would have to flee the Niger delta. Much of the population of China would have to flee, and they'd lose vast areas of arable land as well. The refugee crisis would be truely vast.

The tense hyper-reved-up politics and the constant stuggle to rebuild would drive the setting. If the Space infrastructure was largely built before the crisis, then millions would demand to flee to the skies. The anti-space terrorists would be out in force creating hell everywhere.

How would you play a sudden jump in sea levels? Where are some major innudations with population movements that I've missed? Would those dry salt basins in Australia be flooded? If so would that create new rain forests in Australia on the Western side of the Blue Mountains?
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Old 06-17-2013, 09:59 AM   #2
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The tense hyper-reved-up politics and the constant stuggle to rebuild would drive the setting. If the Space infrastructure was largely built before the crisis, then millions would demand to flee to the skies.
Total nonstarter with unskilled immigrants. It would literally be cheaper to put them up in 4-star hotels built for the purpose and subsist on room service.
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Old 06-17-2013, 11:22 AM   #3
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Yay for mass uploads.
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Old 06-17-2013, 11:46 AM   #4
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Yay for mass uploads.
Ouch!

Still, Greg Egan did it in DIASPORA.
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Old 06-17-2013, 01:14 PM   #5
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Total nonstarter with unskilled immigrants. It would literally be cheaper to put them up in 4-star hotels built for the purpose and subsist on room service.
Truth! But it wouldn't change their demands. Frankly I'd go for large cities floating just far enough under the surface of the seas to be safe from storms.

Powered with sea thermal energy, they'd almost be viable with present technology. Almost but not quite yet.
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Old 06-17-2013, 03:01 PM   #6
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Who would pay for the Sealab solution? And who would be liable when Pod 6 blows up?
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Old 06-17-2013, 03:03 PM   #7
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Truth! But it wouldn't change their demands. Frankly I'd go for large cities floating just far enough under the surface of the seas to be safe from storms.

Powered with sea thermal energy, they'd almost be viable with present technology. Almost but not quite yet.
Mass upload still looks cheaper. :)
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Old 06-17-2013, 03:51 PM   #8
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The normal outcome of land becoming non-viable is to move people uphill; sure, lots of people would be displaced, but there's still plenty of land left. http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/ is a fun little toy.
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Old 06-18-2013, 07:18 AM   #9
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The normal outcome of land becoming non-viable is to move people uphill; sure, lots of people would be displaced, but there's still plenty of land left. http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/ is a fun little toy.
Great toy! Thanks Anthony!
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Old 06-27-2013, 01:47 AM   #10
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Yay for mass uploads.
Why not just save the money and kill them by some cheaper means?

;)


Yes, I'm making fun of the 'upload equals immortality' meme.

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