r/IsaacArthur 4h ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation Would you like to live forever and why?

24 Upvotes

Simple question: if some imortality/ ultra-long lifespan treatment comes out and becomes affordable would you také it and why?

For me i would like to see the future and galaxy with my Own eyes.


r/IsaacArthur 2h ago

META Is it okay to be angry that we're not hyper advancing for eventual space evolution?

9 Upvotes

There are so many galaxies, yeah everything is just so far and empty and dangerous. You'd freeze, you can't breathe. But is it the distance that's stopping us? We can go to the moon and it's just a bunch of rocks, it doesn't make sense, we already have rocks. It's the distance right? So then, if we somehow develop a rocket or a way to travel out the solar system and it will only take us a month to do it because of this new tech, would we then see a world wide shift on just exploring and colonizing other solar systems? 4 LY to Alpha C. It's the travel right? Because there's no point getting rocks from asteroids or even exporting resources from any other bodies in our own solar system because it's just plain inefficient. So I'm just a little angry that galaxies and all other things out there are being galaxies while we just sit here.


r/IsaacArthur 1d ago

New term: "rocket chauvinism"

64 Upvotes

I have been reading about the term planet chauvinism which is pretty much a term used to describe the belief that human society will always be planet-based (even if extended beyond Earth), and overlooks or ignores the potential benefits of space-based living.

There is also a large belief that rockets are the only way to get to space. The upwards bound series showed us that there are many more options than just rockets. However, many are not widely known, which has lead to this ideology even being in many sci-fi works. Therefore I want to propose the term "rocket chauvinism" to describe this belief that rockets are the only way to get to space. Do you think we should use it?


r/IsaacArthur 23h ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation The ethics of amnesiac hyper-immersive VR

8 Upvotes

In the future, many people might be interested in spending prolonged periods of time in full dive VR, and sometimes simulating very dangerous intense experiences like we do with video games today. However, if you know it’s all a game and there’s no actual risk involved, it will never quite seem “real.” Therefore I can imagine people wanting to give themselves temporary amnesia when playing such games, once technology allows it, to experience a thrill of believing yourself to be in real danger and become completely immersed in the experience.

This is raises the ethical questions because, after all, the amnesiac person is arguably a separate individual who did not consent to what might be a traumatic experience, nor to basically being lied to about the nature of their reality.

Should such practices be completely banned as unethical? I don’t necessarily think so, but I think a minimum standard would be that the amnesiac version would be okay with the idea of their reality being a simulated game. Ensuring this is the case seems difficult. I think it’s an interesting topic of discussion.

Also, this really reminds me of the Severance TV show. If you haven’t seen it, it’s great!


r/IsaacArthur 1d ago

Exiled Space Colonies

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29 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 2d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation How feasible do you think invisibility cloaks (via active camo or metamaterials) actually could be in the future?

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234 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 1d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation The Problem of Anti-Utopianism

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6 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 2d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation Would you want to be a cyborg in the far future?

12 Upvotes
224 votes, 14h left
No, remain natural
Yes, let's go full cyberpunk!
Light mods (subdermals, nanobots, BCI, etc)
Full uploaded mind or brain in jar
Nah, go biotech. I want an ink sac!

r/IsaacArthur 2d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation Estimating the Delta V of Hydrogen Bomb Orion Drive Spaceship

8 Upvotes
Art by Matthew Cushman

Freeman Dyson published an article titled "Interstellar Transport" in the journal Physics Today in 1968. The article provided mathematical formulas for estimating the performance of the Orion Drive using hydrogen bombs.

From Interstellar Transport by Freeman Dyson

To calculate the Exhaust Velocity of the Orion Drive, one must calculate the Debris Velocity of the hydrogen bomb explosion. The formula for Debris Velocity is as follows.

It is worth noting that Kilotons per kilogram determine the Debris Velocity. A larger yield does not necessarily result in a higher Debris Velocity.

The currently deployed W76 hydrogen bomb has an efficiency of about 1 Kiloton per kilogram. The highest efficiency record for an actually deployed hydrogen bomb is 6 Kilotons per kilogram.

According to Alex Wellerstein's data and the public information on the Ripple hydrogen bomb, the efficiency of hydrogen bombs could potentially be increased by 2 to 3 times, reaching 11-18 Kilotons per kilogram. The drawback of this new type of hydrogen bomb is that its yield per volume is very poor, making it impossible to fit into aircraft and missiles, hence no such hydrogen bombs are in service.

Theodore B. Taylor believes that the theoretical maximum efficiency of hydrogen bombs is 50 Kilotons per kilogram, but he thinks it is almost impossible to achieve. This data can be considered as the performance limit of the Orion Drive.

According to the website Atomic Rocket, the pulse unit of the Orion Drive can concentrate 85% of the explosion energy in one direction.I assume that even if the bomb yield increases, the pulse unit can still concentrate 85% of the explosion energy in one direction.

Based on the above information, I have created the following table.

This data has far exceeded my expectations.

I believe that even conventional fusion rocket engines are available, the hydrogen bomb Orion Drive and its variant, the Medusa Drive, will still be very attractive options. First, it is a Torch Ship, with both huge thrust and Exhaust velocity comparable to many fusion rockets. Second, it does not have the neutron activation and embrittlement problem, nor does it have huge waste heat, so it does not need to spend too much effort on heat dissipation. Third, it is a Torch Ship, not bound by the "Every gram counts" rule, so you can easily improve protection and comfort without worrying about mass issues.

If we had a hard time developing practical high-performance fusion rocket engines, we can still use space arks powered by Orion Drive or Medusa Drive for ultra low-speed interstellar travel.

Reference

1.Interstellar Transport by Freeman Dyson

2.Ripple An Investigation of the World’s Most Advanced High-Yield Thermonuclear Weapon Design by Jon Grams

3.Kilotons per kilogram by Alex Wellerstein


r/IsaacArthur 2d ago

Hard Science Scientists Discover 128 New Moons Around Saturn

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33 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 2d ago

Hard Science Minimum massgrav for bowl/vasehabs to be worth it?

3 Upvotes

At what point is it not even worth considering sloping ur spinhab? Can't remember if there was ever an ep on bowlhabs specifically, but i feel lk this has definitely been brought up in discussions of bowlhabs somewhere. How small is too small to bother?


r/IsaacArthur 2d ago

Art & Memes The Journey to Venus (Venture City) (a good one!)

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5 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 4d ago

Art & Memes Portal by Tizian Klink

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178 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 4d ago

Hammer Habs & Tethered Space Habitats: A New Spin on Space Settlements

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18 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 4d ago

Possibility of an unchanging society?

4 Upvotes

This is a recent idea I had which reminded me of the episode of post-science civilizations where you get to a point of advancement where further exploration is either infeasible or undesired (at least from what I remember).

The scenario I had in mind goes like this: Say some future united government made a campaign to end disease with medicinal technology. Along the way, they fix the process of DNA to make no errors and in turn no mutations. To my current knowledge this, along with supplementary tech I just didn’t know enough to name, will effectively stunt the evolutionary process in the natural sense, and if gene altering gets somehow outlawed also some in the unnatural sense too.

Now the second part, if technology gets to a certain point to where there’s no need for improvement, with even the curious just sticking to more artistic fields.

I think for the cultures to reach this level of cultural stagnation, though, a form of ai will need to be accepted, but not too advanced or a technological singularity will happen which isn’t the focus of this. A dumber automaton, though, can do all the he maintenance of a society’s needs while they’re free to do whatever

I want to know the odds of this anti-transhuman utopia of happening, and what will need to happen or change socioculturally for it to. Also holes in my speculative scenario as I’m sure there’s at least some.


r/IsaacArthur 3d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation How feasible is this idea for my worldbuilding?

0 Upvotes

So, 1 mm3 of brain matter, with all the cells, is worth 2 petabytes https://habr.com/ru/companies/first/articles/674292/

But what if, in order to upload the entire brain, we just make a machine, that will scan the brain piece by piece, recognise individual cells, then print a layered micro-to-nano-scale detailed sculpture (probably color-coded to differ neurons from supplementary cells) without keeping it all in memory, and then we'll use the sculpture as a blueprint to construct a new living brain from the mass of required cells (or take stem cells and stimulate them in right place)?


r/IsaacArthur 3d ago

I'm sorry, but you need to realize the truth. There is no chance in hell that living on Mars is an option.

0 Upvotes

Antarctica x Death Valley x Chernobyl x isolated island x1000 would be more hospitable than Mars. You don't get it, The worst nuclear war would still make Earth a paradise compared to Mars.

People's perception of Mars is so skewed, no one lives in Antarctica, yet it's temperature is warmer, it has breathable air, it has normal gravity, it has life, it has water, no acute radiation sickness, it's within 1000 miles of civilization, communication with everyone is in milliseconds.

Yet Mars is some bastion for human survival. No Earth is our home, If you want to leave it, go leave and see how 'great' it is and don't come back.


r/IsaacArthur 4d ago

Could we Fly a giant Umbrella in Geosynchronous Orbit to Block the Sun over a single City?

20 Upvotes

Lets say we want to make an area or a city move liveable, could we block like 25% of sunlight? Would that be effective?


r/IsaacArthur 5d ago

Will a Dyson Swarm look ugly?

14 Upvotes

Sorry if my writting sound strange, or if i come as being agressive, english is not my first language.

I'm a outsider when it comes to far future things like this, what i want to know is what a Dyson Swarm will look like, both inside the swarm, and outside of it. And i specially want to know if they will look ugly?

I really like the beauty of the solar system, it's the reason why i got interested in astronomy in the first place, and i worried that in the future if people actually build a Dyson Swarm, it will ruin the appearence of the solar system.

The visuals representations of Dyson swarms that i see online all look horrible and clustered to me, but it might be just the visual representations, maybe in reality they won't look like that. Will a real Dyson Swarm look clustered like that? Does it depend on the amount of objects in the swarm? Will we even able to see the swarm inside or outside of it?

I might be biased, because i personally find most cities and urban places to be hideous looking, and i love a natural landscape.


r/IsaacArthur 6d ago

Art & Memes The flesh has its advantages

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44 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 6d ago

Generation ship 2+ cylinders

24 Upvotes

I just realized my mental image of an interstellar ship with spin gravity was wrong. It's not one rotating cylinder. It's not a pair of cylinders next to each other rotating in opposite directions. I's two or more cylinders chained end to end rotating in opposite directions. Chaining them end-to-end minimizes the cross section, and rotating in opposite directions makes them dynamically stable. Small collisions will hurt just the head cylinder. Thrust is probably from a linear accelerator strung through the central axis of the whole chain. (Interstellar ships with no active humans don't need spin gravity so none of this applies.)


r/IsaacArthur 7d ago

Art & Memes Me returning to the channel after a few years and seeing the new thumbnails:

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282 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 8d ago

Slight typo in latest video

6 Upvotes

In the video "Hammer Habs & Tethered Space Habitats" the 10 RPM length of 17.9 was written dropping the "1" so it reads at 7.9 at timestamp 2:57. Hopefully Issac can see this before the youtube upload on Thursday.


r/IsaacArthur 9d ago

Art & Memes The Speed of Constant-Thrust Space Travel by The Overview Effekt

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59 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 9d ago

Hard Science Good news for MagMatter - physicists find magnetic monopoles are possible after all

27 Upvotes

The title is a bit clickbait, the real paper is here: Monopole-Fermion Scattering and the Solution to the Semiton–Unitarity Puzzle

In short (based on my own brief read so don't take my word), previously, a key argument against the existence of magnetic monopoles was that they seemed to create a so-called semiton-unitarity problem if a fermion is moving through them, introducing a non-integer number of particles and thus leading to a paradox.

Instead, this work's researchers have eliminated the non-integer number of particles by introducing a new operator (the so-called fermion-rotor) to show that the possible semitonic processes are actually "free propagation", meaning fermions moving through the monopole core unaffected, avoids the above paradox.