Advice Thread OOC Future Tech Only

[Avenio]

Toss away your science and run on rule of cool. Survival in space purely on solar power might be possible,

Not really. Pigments tend not to do so well in vacuum.

but to grow an organism needs to take in matter, and space is known for its lack of such.

Very much so.

Now an atmosphere-less planet is another mater. Provided there's a suitable solvent life could exist.

Underground, perhaps. But not on the airless surface itself.

In a vacuum any liquid will tend to either freeze or boil, but it could be replenished from geological sources.

The liquids would flash-boil too quickly for anything more complicated than the most basic hydrocarbons to form.

The organism's skin and general physiology might well be designed to minimise fluid losses; perhaps it could be waxy like certain plants.

Wouldn't work - the pressure of the water would be too strong in anything of macrological size and the organism would rupture.

If warm-blooded it would not need as fast a metabolism as life on Earth since there'd be no air to cool it.
And of course it can't breathe, it would have to take in everything it needs from either solid or liquid substances.

The fact that it's metabolism is restricted to chemolithoautotrophy means that the most sophisticated lifeform that could possibly evolve is pond scum.

Who says life is constrained by earthly rules? In the book Blindsight, you had aliens that ate magnetic fields.

Well, ran off them.

The aliens in Blindsight were based on organic chemistry. A hardier version than ours, but still following the same principles.

Suck in enough energy and it could force its self to mutate

Hnngngnggghhhhhhh

[YellowApple]

A wonderful thing.

That brings up an interesting question, though; what considerations would need to be taken to establish the feasibility of an organism that lives in the vacuum of space as its natural habitat? Based on things like space activity suits in real life, as well as the amount of radiation in space, I imagine an exoskeletal organism would have a better chance of survival, but that's just wild speculation.

Toss away your science and run on rule of cool. Survival in space purely on solar power might be possible, but to grow an organism needs to take in matter, and space is known for its lack of such.

Now an atmosphere-less planet is another mater. Provided there's a suitable solvent life could exist. In a vacuum any liquid will tend to either freeze or boil, but it could be replenished from geological sources. The organism's skin and general physiology might well be designed to minimise fluid losses; perhaps it could be waxy like certain plants. If warm-blooded it would not need as fast a metabolism as life on Earth since there'd be no air to cool it. And of course it can't breathe, it would have to take in everything it needs from either solid or liquid substances.

I was thinking bugs that make hives in ultra-low-gravity asteroids - or better yet comets, which tend to have quite a bit of organic building blocks in their composition - and consume the contents of the small celestial body for food and process it with solar energy (or something. I dunno.).

[Old Sarthal]

Toss away your science and run on rule of cool. Survival in space purely on solar power might be possible, but to grow an organism needs to take in matter, and space is known for its lack of such.

Now an atmosphere-less planet is another mater. Provided there's a suitable solvent life could exist. In a vacuum any liquid will tend to either freeze or boil, but it could be replenished from geological sources. The organism's skin and general physiology might well be designed to minimise fluid losses; perhaps it could be waxy like certain plants. If warm-blooded it would not need as fast a metabolism as life on Earth since there'd be no air to cool it. And of course it can't breathe, it would have to take in everything it needs from either solid or liquid substances.

I was thinking bugs that make hives in ultra-low-gravity asteroids - or better yet comets, which tend to have quite a bit of organic building blocks in their composition - and consume the contents of the small celestial body for food and process it with solar energy (or something. I dunno.).

Those are the space bees. Get your facts right.

[YellowApple]

I was thinking bugs that make hives in ultra-low-gravity asteroids - or better yet comets, which tend to have quite a bit of organic building blocks in their composition - and consume the contents of the small celestial body for food and process it with solar energy (or something. I dunno.).

Those are the space bees. Get your facts right.

But that implies that there's space honey.

Conclusion: space tastes fucking delicious.

[Spirit of Hope]

Those are the space bees. Get your facts right.

But that implies that there's space honey.

Conclusion: space tastes fucking delicious.

Must be really expensive, and the bee keepers must have a rather "fun" job.

[YellowApple]

But that implies that there's space honey.

Conclusion: space tastes fucking delicious.

Must be really expensive, and the bee keepers must have a rather "fun" job.

If by "fun" you mean the Dwarf Fortress definition, then yes.

Then again, I can picture Space Bee Rodeos being popular among Space Cowboys.

[Kreanoltha]

Must be really expensive, and the bee keepers must have a rather "fun" job.

If by "fun" you mean the Dwarf Fortress definition, then yes.

Then again, I can picture Space Bee Rodeos being popular among Space Cowboys.

See you later space cowboys.

[Spirit of Hope]

Must be really expensive, and the bee keepers must have a rather "fun" job.

If by "fun" you mean the Dwarf Fortress definition, then yes.

Then again, I can picture Space Bee Rodeos being popular among Space Cowboys.

When "fun" is in quotation marks it always is the Dwarf Fortress definition. Now I am interested in starting a Space Bee Rodeo thread.

[YellowApple]

If by "fun" you mean the Dwarf Fortress definition, then yes.

Then again, I can picture Space Bee Rodeos being popular among Space Cowboys.

When "fun" is in quotation marks it always is the Dwarf Fortress definition. Now I am interested in starting a Space Bee Rodeo thread.

That would be fun. And also "fun".

[Vocenae]

The Advice thread is not for casual conversation, it's not for social chatting. This is for people who are either giving advice to players who are unsure about something, or players who are new to FT. This is not a thread for advertising or trying to stir up interest for new threads, that is why people create Interest threads for.

Keep your conversation to IRC channels or F7, and let this thread be used for it's intended purpose to educate new FT players and to help those that have a question.

[G-Tech Corporation]

When "fun" is in quotation marks it always is the Dwarf Fortress definition. Now I am interested in starting a Space Bee Rodeo thread.

That would be fun. And also "fun".

"Fun" is even better when its !!FUN!!.

Tangential on topic note so as not to push too many more of Voc's buttons: singularity inducing missiles!

What are their likely effects? I posit jamming devices due to the radiation and particle levels you're likely to get off of easily manufacturing singularities, but I've heard some RPers say they go boom. Frankly, that seems absurd. Thoughts?

[YellowApple]

The Advice thread is not for casual conversation, it's not for social chatting. This is for people who are either giving advice to players who are unsure about something, or players who are new to FT. This is not a thread for advertising or trying to stir up interest for new threads, that is why people create Interest threads for.

Keep your conversation to IRC channels or F7, and let this thread be used for it's intended purpose to educate new FT players and to help those that have a question.

Sorry for having fun every once in awhile.

That would be fun. And also "fun".

"Fun" is even better when its !!FUN!!.

Tangential on topic note so as not to push too many more of Voc's buttons: singularity inducing missiles!

What are their likely effects? I posit jamming devices due to the radiation and particle levels you're likely to get off of easily manufacturing singularities, but I've heard some RPers say they go boom. Frankly, that seems absurd. Thoughts?

They probably wouldn't go "boom"; rather, I suspect they'd go "crunch".

As for jamming, you might actually get a bit of an EMP effect if you keep the singularity zero-dimensional - i.e. a magnetic monopole. I imagine that could mess with any electronics that aren't sufficiently shielded.

[G-Tech Corporation]

"Fun" is even better when its !!FUN!!.

Tangential on topic note so as not to push too many more of Voc's buttons: singularity inducing missiles!

What are their likely effects? I posit jamming devices due to the radiation and particle levels you're likely to get off of easily manufacturing singularities, but I've heard some RPers say they go boom. Frankly, that seems absurd. Thoughts?

They probably wouldn't go "boom"; rather, I suspect they'd go "crunch".

As for jamming, you might actually get a bit of an EMP effect if you keep the singularity zero-dimensional - i.e. a magnetic monopole. I imagine that could mess with any electronics that aren't sufficiently shielded.

More I came across this post during a forum-dive, and hence have formed several ideas about singularity weapons. Some others a la the Fedral Union/the United Terran Alliance seem to think otherwise, and I was wondering what FT in general thought about the topic.

[Our Most Resplendent Goddess Sen]

That would be fun. And also "fun".

"Fun" is even better when its !!FUN!!.

Tangential on topic note so as not to push too many more of Voc's buttons: singularity inducing missiles!

What are their likely effects? I posit jamming devices due to the radiation and particle levels you're likely to get off of easily manufacturing singularities, but I've heard some RPers say they go boom. Frankly, that seems absurd. Thoughts?

It depends. Are you actually somehow compressing a given amount of matter down into a black hole, or are you magically generating some absurdly strong distortion in spacetime mimicking the effects of an extremely large mass in a small area? In the second case, tidal effects will likely rip ships apart if the "singularity" is generated sufficiently close to them. This is fairly obvious and, to be honest, kind of boring.

In the first case, low-mass (hereby defined as less than 1 megatonne) black holes put off spectacular amounts of energy due to hawking radiation. Due to their incredibly small size, and fantastically high "temperature", these low-mass black holes spit out that energy in the form of ludicrously high-energy gamma rays and a zoo of exotic particles which themselves energetically decay on short timescales. There have actually been serious papers written about the prospect of using small black holes for starship engines. Anyways, for weapons use you would want really low-mass black holes, on the order of a thousand tonnes or less. These have lifetimes of a minute or less, and their output increases exponentially as they decay. It takes about 70 seconds for a thousand-tonne black hole to lose half its mass (and at 21 gigatons of yield per ton of mass, that's a lot of energy), and another nine seconds or so for its mass to halve again, still putting out ridiculous amounts of energy at an increasingly high rate. As it starts its final second of life, a black hole has about 250 tonnes of mass left; a second later it will have evaporated completely, but in that final second it will have released some fifty teratons of energy.

Of course, actually creating a low-mass black hole and using it as a weapon would be hellaciously difficult and horribly inefficient.

[Otagia]

In other words, they go boom.

[Our Most Resplendent Goddess Sen]

In a most spectacular fashion.

[Galla-]

I have realised (years ago, actually, but just never bothered RPing it) that because nanomachines require a large amount of fuel and are very small and cannot absorb shocks or carry lots of internal fuel, they could possibly be suspended in a viscous jelly that would serve as a support structure for the foglet swarm to build upon.

So, future Gallans evolve into goo girls. Or guys. Or something. Gender and sex identity kind of stops existing when you can grow body parts at will.

This is why I will never have the balls to RP in FT. ):

[SquareDisc City]

The behaviour of a singularity is by definition unpredictable. Singularities are unlikely to actually exist and if a theory predicts their formation in a given situation then that probably means the theory is no good for that situation. Black holes are not the same thing as singularities despite what many authors seem to think. General relativity predicts that black holes contain singularities, and that their unpredictable effects are shielded from the outside Universe by the event horizon, but general relativity isn't the whole story and only when we have a tested theory of quantum gravity will we have a real idea of what's inside a black hole.

Sen's covered black hole weaponry nicely. I'll add that energy in equals energy out is still going to hold unless you opt to circumvent or ignore it. Even so, the small size and indestructibility of a black hole would be useful.

[Yes Im Biop]

The Advice thread is not for casual conversation, it's not for social chatting. This is for people who are either giving advice to players who are unsure about something, or players who are new to FT. This is not a thread for advertising or trying to stir up interest for new threads, that is why people create Interest threads for.

Keep your conversation to IRC channels or F7, and let this thread be used for it's intended purpose to educate new FT players and to help those that have a question.

Were discussing space insects thanks

[Rethan]

There have actually been serious papers written about the prospect of using small black holes for starship engines.

I think I actually have one of those floating about on a hard drive somewhere if anyone is interested in taking a look.

[Durmatagno]

The Advice thread is not for casual conversation, it's not for social chatting. This is for people who are either giving advice to players who are unsure about something, or players who are new to FT. This is not a thread for advertising or trying to stir up interest for new threads, that is why people create Interest threads for.

Keep your conversation to IRC channels or F7, and let this thread be used for it's intended purpose to educate new FT players and to help those that have a question.

Dude, calm down. No matter what you due, a OOC based thread, even with a set topic, is bound to get off topic. Being off topic lasts longer in certain threads than others, the off topicness (not a word, I know) of this thread usually lasts for less than a page.

[Strykla]

The behaviour of a singularity is by definition unpredictable. Singularities are unlikely to actually exist and if a theory predicts their formation in a given situation then that probably means the theory is no good for that situation. Black holes are not the same thing as singularities despite what many authors seem to think. General relativity predicts that black holes contain singularities, and that their unpredictable effects are shielded from the outside Universe by the event horizon, but general relativity isn't the whole story and only when we have a tested theory of quantum gravity will we have a real idea of what's inside a black hole.

Sen's covered black hole weaponry nicely. I'll add that energy in equals energy out is still going to hold unless you opt to circumvent or ignore it. Even so, the small size and indestructibility of a black hole would be useful.

NAKED SINGULARITIES LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Kreanoltha]

The behaviour of a singularity is by definition unpredictable. Singularities are unlikely to actually exist and if a theory predicts their formation in a given situation then that probably means the theory is no good for that situation. Black holes are not the same thing as singularities despite what many authors seem to think. General relativity predicts that black holes contain singularities, and that their unpredictable effects are shielded from the outside Universe by the event horizon, but general relativity isn't the whole story and only when we have a tested theory of quantum gravity will we have a real idea of what's inside a black hole.

Sen's covered black hole weaponry nicely. I'll add that energy in equals energy out is still going to hold unless you opt to circumvent or ignore it. Even so, the small size and indestructibility of a black hole would be useful.

NAKED SINGULARITIES LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Trolling hardcore I see.

To be serious though, one way you can thing of singularities is as a discontinuity in a rational equation. You can never evaluate the equation at the discontinuity, but you can immediately around it to determine what it will look like. That said, don't run too far with that. We can't know what is going on inside of a singularity.

[Galla-]

Toss away your science and run on rule of cool. Survival in space purely on solar power might be possible,

Not really. Pigments tend not to do so well in vacuum.

but to grow an organism needs to take in matter, and space is known for its lack of such.

Very much so.

Now an atmosphere-less planet is another mater. Provided there's a suitable solvent life could exist.

Underground, perhaps. But not on the airless surface itself.

In a vacuum any liquid will tend to either freeze or boil, but it could be replenished from geological sources.

The liquids would flash-boil too quickly for anything more complicated than the most basic hydrocarbons to form.

The organism's skin and general physiology might well be designed to minimise fluid losses; perhaps it could be waxy like certain plants.

Wouldn't work - the pressure of the water would be too strong in anything of macrological size and the organism would rupture.

If warm-blooded it would not need as fast a metabolism as life on Earth since there'd be no air to cool it.
And of course it can't breathe, it would have to take in everything it needs from either solid or liquid substances.

The fact that it's metabolism is restricted to chemolithoautotrophy means that the most sophisticated lifeform that could possibly evolve is pond scum.

Who says life is constrained by earthly rules? In the book Blindsight, you had aliens that ate magnetic fields.

Well, ran off them.

The aliens in Blindsight were based on organic chemistry. A hardier version than ours, but still following the same principles.

Suck in enough energy and it could force its self to mutate

Hnngngnggghhhhhhh

Rly guys all forms of biological life is just going to be obsoleted by the Singularity as the universe is slowly transformed into computronium.

It's like Rethan but not blatantly evil, just misunderstood.

[Sobornost]

There have actually been serious papers written about the prospect of using small black holes for starship engines.

I think I actually have one of those floating about on a hard drive somewhere if anyone is interested in taking a look.

Sounds curiously similar to a certain slugthrowing nation in the neighborhood...