teraformer

No way. No way.

PV and wind are perfectly suited toward essentials because they are sources of energy we'll never feel guilty about. We should use and perfect methods of energy extraction that are conscionable, so that we have ideals methods of providing for ourselves.

Meanwhile, to produce surpluses, and exploit gains for experimental luxuries, use riskier methods. This balances the premise of the risk, such that you don't push the risk taking too far, out of desperation for a necessity. Rather than worry about a power failure at a hospital, accept a negligible decline against production targets at a plant, and temporarily shut down the pile, for safety's sake, whenever needed. No?

Although, you'll constantly hear from proponents of nuclear energy, that a nuclear plant can product "nigh-limitless" (!) amounts of electricity, somehow they never do.

But supposing they did produce the absurd amount of energy they could potentially create, would a purpose-built nuclear powered hydrogen plant be capable of obviating any hydrogen deficit, and eventually create a surplus? And then, so too, with helium, via a separate process?

  For this to work, every aspect of the simulation would 
  have to match up with real world circumstances.

  ...which would mean no secrets.

  ...or weapons that, when used, obviate many degrees of 
  secrecy, like nuclear weapons.

Gee, I wonder if it has anything to do with cell phones, and in particular, the high bandwidth data consumption of smart phones.

Look toward a city skyline at night. Or even a small town. You'll see a blended haze of light reaching up into the sky. Probably a similar deal with the general radio spectrum emissions, now that everyone's carrying the equivalent of pocket RF flash lights, and walking in proximity to the RF street lamps that cell phone towers have become.

  2004 study found that for 
  each extra inch of height 
  above average, someone could 
  expect to earn per working 
  year of his or her life up 
  to $789 more (about $976 in
  today's money)

Kind of terrifying.

Grey goo, here we come!

Power projection is going to be a thing.

Just like submarine launched ICBM's and Nimitz class aircraft carriers project power, so too shall a presence in orbit.

It's just not entirely clear how to enter that game yet, but it will be a game that gets played sooner or later.

I think there's probably going to be a big stare-down between 4 or 5 big players, but there's no way to guess at what's on the other side of that.

Job 1: Advertising interests be damned, this mass surveillance thing has got to go.

I don't know why you're getting downvoted, because you're absolutely right. Most human architecture is highly procedural, with many tradesmen specializing in highly repetitive, focused tasks, that have predictable, reliable outcomes, in order to produce safe structures based on well-understood principles.

As for the VR thing, I think that will gain less traction because the idea of sleeping one's life away, strapped into goggles and headphones, is only so attractive.

Oh, I dunno. If its orbit is currently stable, then all you'd need to do is increase its velocity, whenever you add mass.

It might be a good object to seed with lunar landfill.

I'm thinking it could be like the outer space version of Sealand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Fort_Roughs

In America, lots of excessively toxic, obnoxious bastards get much farther along in life than so many others by trading on unsophisticated deception, intimidation and betrayal, and not much else.

After a while, you get tired of being smart and getting nowhere for all the effort you expend.

Then, knowing what you know, and having noticed what's surrounded you for so long, well... intellectuals can decide for themselves a logical corollary to this.