Everyday Life in SF: Exploring Realistic Possibilities

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the implications of advanced technology on everyday life in a speculative science fiction setting. Participants consider how developments like 3D printing and robotics might alter work, social structures, and daily routines in a future that is both technologically advanced and socially complex.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that everyday life in the future could resemble current life but with more technology, emphasizing that human behaviors are largely influenced by evolutionary factors.
  • Another participant raises the idea of returning to a guild-like system where humans produce unique items, as robots take over routine tasks.
  • Concerns are expressed about the potential for 3D printing to disrupt traditional trade by enabling local production of goods.
  • A participant questions the longevity of current technologies, such as cellphones, and whether they will evolve significantly over the next few centuries.
  • Several participants highlight the importance of considering social changes alongside technological advancements, citing historical shifts in societal norms and rights.
  • One participant discusses the potential for high unemployment in a future where robots perform most jobs, suggesting that social aid would be necessary to prevent unrest.
  • Another participant reflects on the implications of a future society where a small elite is served by a large underclass, raising concerns about economic disparity.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on how technology will affect daily life, with some emphasizing continuity in human behavior and others focusing on the potential for radical social change. There is no consensus on the specific outcomes of these technological advancements or their social implications.

Contextual Notes

Participants note various assumptions about the future, including the role of technology in work and social structures, the impact of historical context on current behaviors, and the potential for significant unemployment. These factors remain unresolved and are subject to differing interpretations.

  • #31
UV is easily blocked by most types of glass.

Phobos has 2.14 km/s average orbital velocity at a semi-major axis of 2.76 times the Mars radius. A skyhook hanging from Phobos would have a speed of about 1 km/s a few hundred kilometers above the Martian surface. At ~5500 km length and 0 to 0.4 g gravitational acceleration, it is probably something that can be deployed in a single piece with a moderate tapering ratio with current materials. How to dock to such a tether? Who knows.
 
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  • #32
mfb said:
UV is easily blocked by most types of glass.

Phobos has 2.14 km/s average orbital velocity at a semi-major axis of 2.76 times the Mars radius. A skyhook hanging from Phobos would have a speed of about 1 km/s a few hundred kilometers above the Martian surface. At ~5500 km length and 0 to 0.4 g gravitational acceleration, it is probably something that can be deployed in a single piece with a moderate tapering ratio with current materials. How to dock to such a tether? Who knows.
Have you ever seen "Aeon Flux"?
 
  • #33
Noisy Rhysling said:
Have you ever seen "Aeon Flux"?

Havent seen that, or heard good reviews about it.
Martians will surely have serious UV-blocking glass, X-rays are nastier, during solar storms, they get their rad dose.

So they should be rather pale, and have increased cancer risks (compensated by more freedom or bigger share of the pie)
 
  • #34
GTOM said:
Havent seen that, or heard good reviews about it.
Martians will surely have serious UV-blocking glass, X-rays are nastier, during solar storms, they get their rad dose.

So they should be rather pale, and have increased cancer risks (compensated by more freedom or bigger share of the pie)
There's one sequence in the movie where Aeon needs to get up to the giant balloon-thingy. Just so happens that it trails long streamers (for no apparent reason). She climbs a tall structure and jumps to catch the streamers, then hoists herself up via that route.

That's a low level demonstration of how I see the elevator working. Its "streamer" is just outside the atmosphere, and Martians would use a shuttle to meet that. From there a somewhat conventional elevator takes the passengers up to Phobos. The elevators are paired, one going up with another goes down, so the only power needed is lift the mass of the passengers.

(As for the movie, I didn't read the comic book, so I didn't go in hating the movie.)
 
  • #35
GTOM said:
Martians will surely have serious UV-blocking glass, X-rays are nastier, during solar storms, they get their rad dose.
Everything that shields against cosmic rays will easily shield everything that comes from the Sun. Just don't go out when a solar storm is approaching.
Noisy Rhysling said:
The elevators are paired, one going up with another goes down, so the only power needed is lift the mass of the passengers.
By moving the whole cable? That is impractical and wouldn't work with current materials. Make them go up/down with electric motors.
 
  • #36
mfb said:
Everything that shields against cosmic rays will easily shield everything that comes from the Sun. Just don't go out when a solar storm is approaching.By moving the whole cable? That is impractical and wouldn't work with current materials. Make them go up/down with electric motors.
The main cable is ultra-strong. The elevator cables ride that cable. One cable, each end attached to an elevator. The weight of cars cancel out.

And I'm very sure we're not working with "current materials" on this.
 
  • #37
Where is the point in a "main cable" if the elevator cable holds the payload?
Noisy Rhysling said:
And I'm very sure we're not working with "current materials" on this.
But we could build this with current materials. Just not with the setup you imagine, which doesn't help and makes everything way more difficult.
 
  • #38
If you say so.
 
  • #39
Noisy Rhysling said:
If you say so.

I also think, it is easier if only the elevator cabins moving, not the whole thousands kms cables.
 
  • #40
In that system power is needed to move the cabins and their contents. In a counterweight system you just need to move the weight of the contents.
 
  • #41
Noisy Rhysling said:
In that system power is needed to move the cabins and their contents. In a counterweight system you just need to move the weight of the contents.
And the thousand km cable between the two.
 
  • #42
GTOM said:
And the thousand km cable between the two.
Pity the engineers didn't figure that in.
 
  • #43
You have to move the whole mass of the cable, exceeding the mass of the payload by a factor of10 to 1000, depending on the implementation. Even worse, tapering gets much more complicated if you want to move cables and you need hours to start and stop the system without undue stress in the cable.

This is not your typical building elevator where the cables are just a convenient tool to hold the cabin. The cables are thousands of kilometers long and have much more mass than the cabin itself. Moving the cables around is extremely impractical.
 
  • #44
https://phys.org/news/2017-09-lava-tubes-hidden-sites-future.html

Found that one. Although it looks like, it isn't absolutely sure, that such large caves exists, just assumed.

Based on the article, it looks like a martian cavern wouldn't be enough for capital (that would be a domed city at equator, i think a MW laser enough for anti meteor protection), but it would be good for a mining town.
 

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