Why build a datacenter with an awsome view?

An uploaded personality, after spending 100 years as a biological human and 40 years as a post-human brain made of silicon (and later carbon) semiconductors plugged into a rack, decides to emigrate to a space-based polis (a word I borrowed from Greg Egan).

Our protagonist, living in a simulated reality under explicit control of anyone who designs "spaces" for various activity or pure art, tends to keep things like the real world.

So, he checks into a (virtual) room that's modeled on a nice New York hi-rise apartment with a view of the city. Everything is detailed with a general impression of age and being fixed up and maintained.

After going to sleep, his processor is stopped, the static state read out, and transferred to his new hardware located a billion miles away.

Before waking up, his scenery is changed. He wakes up in a room with the same general shape and furniture but everything is new. The style is modern, the paint is fresh. His pajamas are the same style and color but are now fine silk.

Upon opening the blinds, he sees a view of an impressive space-based operation! A tower over an asteroid or moon of some kind, with lots of industrial activity going on across the surface, and other towers a d buildings visible. Towers are merged into orbital stalks and port operations are bustling. In the sky is a gas giant planet,twice the size of a full moon.

Now the view is intended to represent the real location. It may be idealized like a painting rather than a photo, and the common fiction of windows holding rooms with people in them are applied (the structures don't really have patio balconies), but it is a faithful mapping of the real world location.

After he leaves his room and meets up with his contacts, he's welcomed to «some-name» Data Center, the "Wall Street of the Second Economy".

The group of space polises are independent of Earth resources and have embraced the concept of a post-scarcity society from the get-go. They build more computing resources and pursue projects using material from the asteroids, moons of the gas giant, etc. Suppose they have fusion power or huge solar collectors.

The question is, why would it be based in this particular spot? It's not a main belt asteroid, but a place with an amazing view! Which moon of which planet would they choose for building a major datacenter and industry for running and expanding it? And what factors make it a good choice?

I have a vague idea of needing volatile elements as well as just rock. Things to watch out for would be the harsh radiation environment of inner moons of Jupiter (not sure about Saturn).

posted over 7 years ago

JDługosz‭

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