Elite: Lore
19 Nov 2018, 4:04pm
19 Nov 2018, 4:07pm
GaaveraGaav here with just a question: Ive noticed that some number of terraformed Earth like planets are tidally locked. I understand that its the year 3304, so advanced tech is common, but would any of you all live a tidally locked terraformed world considering our evolution on a revolving world?
Never changing day on one side and night on the other... hmm?
I read an article long ago (yes I'm old) in the early days of thought regarding terraforming planets. The tidally locked issue came up because someone had mentioned what if we find a planet perfectly aligned in the Goldilocks Zone but it is tidally locked. The answer was a bit far fetched at the time but it was suggested that we could mount giant thrusters on what would become the equator and very slowly start the planet spinning. This would have to be done before any terraforming could be started. They went on to say how it might be possible to slow the spin down on a planet that is actually spinning too fast by doing this in reverse. I can't fathom the cost involved with something like this...
19 Nov 2018, 4:11pm
Psycho-UmanEvolution is like time, you can't control, you can only go along with it no matter how slow or fast it goes,
That's objectively not true. Our domestication of animals proves that.
19 Nov 2018, 5:18pm
Phisto SobaniiPsycho-UmanEvolution is like time, you can't control, you can only go along with it no matter how slow or fast it goes,
That's objectively not true. Our domestication of animals proves that.
The changes in domestic animals though is due to selective breeding. In us that would be eugenics and neither selective breeding or eugenics is evolution.
Plus, you could argue that a spacesuit is evolution to a vacuum environment, since we had to evolve the brains and social skills required to think one up as an idea, invent in practical terms, and build it in material terms. We didn't evolve into a winged animal because we evolved into a creature that could build aircraft.
All in my own badly evolved opinion of course!
19 Nov 2018, 6:39pm
Take dogs for example. Their common ancestor is the wolf. Some wolves got friendly with humans. We found many of their attributes useful and selectively bred them into all the varieties of dog you see today. Took tens of thousands of years instead of the usual millions because intelligent minds were behind it directing it all.
If I remember correctly dogs can't mate with wolves anymore. That goes to show how far they've come. Domestic cats however can still mate with their common ancestors. We've only had them around for several thousand years and haven't particularly cared to selectively breed them.
19 Nov 2018, 6:54pm
19 Nov 2018, 6:59pm
19 Nov 2018, 7:06pm
19 Nov 2018, 7:12pm
Mo RonikYeah, wolves and dogs can interbreed. So can coyotes and dogs commonly called coy-dogs. The wolf/dog offspring is capable of having pups while the coyote/dog offspring is usually sterile, kinda like the mule - sometimes sterile and sometimes not. I had a coy-dog when I lived on the farm and fortunately the one I had didn't retain the aggressiveness of the wild side. She was as gentile as can be to us and the cats but for some reason hated coyotes and would either kill them or chase them off. Around here domestic cats and bobcats often mate and have some really curious, cute and very bitey offspring.
Today I learned! Thanks for sharing.
Numa - I think that's where things are going too.
To sort've keep this related to Elite: I think you see how that might look in how little spacers care about differences in gravity and the like. The Empire is pretty keen on genetic engineering too, at least so far as making humans as perfectly human as they can.
19 Nov 2018, 7:16pm
GaaveraGaav here with just a question: Ive noticed that some number of terraformed Earth like planets are tidally locked. I understand that its the year 3304, so advanced tech is common, but would any of you all live a tidally locked terraformed world considering our evolution on a revolving world?
What is the lag to Elite Dangerous server?
Never changing day on one side and night on the other... hmm?
I think "Tidally locked earth like" is an oxymoron.
Even if the plant's gravity, diameter, atmosphere, water content and average temperature match Earth's a tidally locked planet would have too extreme a temperature variance to support earth life.
Most plants need light and darkness to grow properly. Most parts of the planet would only have light or darkness with a twilight zone lit by atmospheric scattering. There could be some plant life that does not need light, but it would be a non-photosynthesis based life of the types found in deep caves.
The light hitting the sun side would heat the air, making it lighter and allowing the cooler air from the dark side to flow under it. This would create a wind from dark to sun side all around the twilight zone. If this was going to come close to evening out the temperature gradient the wind in the twilight zone would be a permanent hurricane, affecting the ability of plants to grow and take root.
Could we live there? Yes. It would probably be cheaper and healthier than many other environments. But going outside to take a walk would not be nearly as pleasant as one on Earth.
Have I gotten too serious with this? Probably. OOPS.
19 Nov 2018, 7:38pm
Greybeard LXII think "Tidally locked earth like" is an oxymoron.
I agree 100% on that. The Earth is so complex from the iron core creating a magnetic field to the ozone layer to the moon's influence. I think it should be "earth size" instead. At least there is the possibility of having similar gravity.
20 Nov 2018, 6:11am
Phisto Sobanii
To sort've keep this related to Elite: I think you see how that might look in how little spacers care about differences in gravity and the like. The Empire is pretty keen on genetic engineering too, at least so far as making humans as perfectly human as they can.
You made me think of this series "The Expanse" with that, and reading the other comments about gravity and living in space.
There are so very many problems with living in space, even creating artificial gravity is an intense amount of work. At least with our current methods for creating it, a spinning habitation ring is the simplest answer.
20 Nov 2018, 9:51am
Psycho-UmanEvolution is like time
Well... technically... Evolution is a well proven and accepted scientific theory, while time is a man made measurement of stuff that happens based on humans living on Earth (like day and night, seasons etc)
So here's one to ponder over your coffee this morning - Remove Earth and what is time to humans... throw in a bit of time dilation and you're really getting into headmashing territory.
Although, you're right about not being able to stop either evolution and time.
Greybeard LXI
I think "Tidally locked earth like" is an oxymoron.
Returning to this, absolutely. A tidally locked planet is impossible to be Earth like - So really this is an inaccuracy / misconception / oversight within Elite Dangerous. I wonder if the developers will address this given they do like to get things right.