Activity for Adam Reynolds‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Question	—	How to handle transhumanism vs space colonization Given the difficulties in doing things like constructing O'Neil cylinders or habitats on places like Mars, is it at all plausible that current humans could ever really colonize anything in space? Is it more plausible that we're all cyborgs by the time we could reasonably get there, or that AIs/robots... (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Question	—	Why would an AI only give limited information to humans? I'm thinking about an AI similar to The Machine from Person of Interest but in a generally more advanced setting, and with a likely more broad goal of serving as a shepherd for humanity as opposed to solving crimes. I'd also think it's a good idea to follow Stuart Russel's principles for AI. Why do... (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Question	—	The economics of laser sails vs fusion rockets What would be the economic trade offs of building fusion powered rockets vs building laser relays across the solar system? What assumptions would you need for each one of these to be the superior option? (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Question	—	Building an interstellar starship during transit Would it be feasible to have an interstellar vessel be constructed in flight after smaller sections are boosted up to speed? The idea here is about using laser sails which would be easier to use with somewhat smaller designs, because of problems with areal density, the mass carried per unit of area(a... (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Question	—	Magnetic sail on rotating ship I'm thinking about a design like this generation ship, which obviously has spin gravity. Would the fact that the ship is rotating affect the use of a magnetic sail? The magnetic sail as a sort of interstellar parachute is an idea found in Robert Zurbin's book The Case for Space. (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Question	—	Is there any function in society that requires male strength? This came out of a discussion of an all female colony world, but I'm interested in the more general version of this question. Is there any function in society that requires male levels of strength in order for it to be successful? I'm not really thinking here about the changes to gender dynamics as... (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Question	—	What could cause the majority of people to live in space habitats? So I'm thinking here about the sort of setting like Eclipse Phase, in which virtually all of humanity lives in a wide range of space habitats because of an apocalypse on Earth. I am imagining a variation of this without the apocalypse on Earth. What could serve as a valid motivation for so many peop... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Question	—	Are generation ships inherently implausible? So I've been thinking about the idea of a series that takes place on a small fleet of generation ships, traveling at around 10% of lightspeed to Proxima Centauri, which should take around half a century. So the flaws here have been pretty well laid out in detail by Kim Stanley Robinson here, who also... (more)	—	over 4 years ago