"Real" ringworlds

[Jack Simth]

Originally posted by Narrew:
I thought that Dyson Spheres were inhabited on the inside like a Ring World, but completely encompass the sun to trap all energy and possiably hide from the rest of the universe (wasnt it a Star Trek movie that found a bunch of Dyson Spheres?).

That was the original idea, but the mass of the Dyson Sphere is useless for producing gravity inside the sphere, as the gravitation produced by the mass "below" you is cancelled out exactly by the rest of the sphere (assuming an even distribution, that is) leaving only the mass of the star to pull on you - which means things tend to drop into the star if they aren't anchored down. Some form of artifical gravity, or anti-gravity would be required.
Likewise, the star isn't affected by the gravity of the sphere, and can wander around, probably impacting on the sphere's inner surface, unless some controlled force is applied.

In other words, to get a Dyson Sphere to work, you need artifical gravity and the ability to move stars around at will - in addition to the matter needed to build the sphere, the materials technology so that the sphere maintains its shape, and possibly a few other things.

If you plan on living on the outside, you can drop the artifical gravity, but not the rest.

[ May 14, 2003, 22:34: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[Narrew]

Originally posted by Jack Simth:
Mind you, to get this energy, you have to be able to manipulate a small black hole, which is probably very difficult (if possible) and very dangerous.

Wife: Honey!!! YOUR son is doing it again...
Husband: *chuckles* what is my son doing this time?
Wife: Well *hands on hips* he took that Science kit you got him for Christmas out back and just opened a tiny black hole!!! And now all the cloths I have drying on the line are getting sucked into it. So you go out there and FIX it now!
Husband: Yes dear *smiling* *under his breath* Thats my boy!

[narf poit chez BOOM]

evelution has no explanation for intelligence and rules it out. why? chemicals aren't intelligent. chemicals have gravity. lots of chemicals have lots of gravity. lots of chemicals don't have intelligence. unless everything is intelligent, in which case, i may not win, but you will lose.

[Krsqk]

Mind you, to get this energy, you have to be able to manipulate a small black hole, which is probably very difficult (if possible) and very dangerous.

Dangerous? Is that where all the neighborhood cats have gone? Dear me, what a terrible accident.

Like Mom always said, "It's all fun and games until someone gets radiation poisoning." Or was it "until someone gets knocked past an event horizon"?

[Phoenix-D]

evelution has no explanation for intelligence and rules it out. why? chemicals aren't intelligent."

Evolution has very little to do with chemicals actually. That's a couple levels too low.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

from an evelotionary point of view, where chemicals and electromagnatism and electricity. none of these explains intelligence, becuase none of these has been shown to have intelligence.

[Phoenix-D]

narf, you're missing my point I think.

Evolution doesn't work on the chemical level. (well, not in the sense biologists are talking about)

Move up to organisms and populations. There you CAN get intelligence supported by natural selection- if it results in the intelligent variant having more offspring or surving better.

Whether the indivudual molecules or atoms have intelligence is irrelevet; intelligence is an emergant property, like a heartbeat, breathing etc. Looking at one cell, you couldn't predict it. Take a human heart cell by itself, and it would be a sad, useless critter. Link it up with other, differently specialized cells though, and you've got something useful.