[extropy-chat] What if Dyson spheres are obsolete? (was the Drake Equation)

[The Avantguardian]

One additional note:

I did a back of the envelope calculation and given the
approximate gravitational binding energy of the earth
as (3/5)GM/r, it would take 2.745 E 32 joules of
energy to form a Dyson at 1 AU out of the earth. This
is very close to the energy it would take to scatter
the atoms of the earth to infinity. (Actually some new
math I have been working suggests it would take more
than this but I don't have time go into this here.)

This is equal to one whole week of total solar output.
This suggests one would need a Dyson sphere in
operation for a week to construct an equivalent Dyson
sphere. This would seem to indicate that any
civilization CAPABLE of building a Dyson Sphere would
have little use for one.

Just my two cents.


Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"Believe nothing. No matter where you read it, or who said it, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."- Siddhartha Guatama aka Buddha.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com