[ExI] Dyson Sphere? Why? Just move planets into Habitable Zone.

[Darin Sunley]

It's important to distinguish between Dyson's original conception - a vast
constellation of small bodies forming a sphere around a star, and the much
more recent concept of a Dyson shell - a solid shell built around a star.

With Sufficiently Advanced Technology, you could actually build a Dyson
sphere - in the original sense - out of small planetoids with atmospheres
and magnetic fields, and get the best of both worlds.

You can see a vivid picture of a system like this under construction in the
Abstract War chapters of Sam Hughes' "Ra". https://qntm.org/war
[Don't read that link unless you're existentially certain you're not going
to read the whole thing from the beginning, as it is massively spoilerific.
The story is amazing and reading from the beginning is highly recommended.]


On Tue, Sep 26, 2023 at 9:32 AM BillK via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Why Build Megastructures? Just Move Planets Around to Make Habitable Worlds
> September 25, 2023 by Matt Williams
>
> <
> https://www.universetoday.com/163245/why-build-megastructures-just-move-planets-around-to-make-habitable-worlds/
> >
>
> Quote:
> Dyson’s ideas were proposed at a time when astronomers were unaware of
> the abundance of exoplanets in our galaxy. The first confirmed
> exoplanet was not discovered until 1992, and that number has now
> reached 5,514!
> ----------
>
> There are many problems with building a Dyson Sphere that are removed
> by using planets instead. (See article for details).
> e.g. exposing the sphere to outside cosmic rays, no protection from
> solar flares, CMEs, solar wind, etc., as there would be no natural
> magnetic field, no gravity, continuous illumination, etc.
>
> They suggest that advanced civilisations wouldn't build Dyson Spheres,
> We should be looking for unusual clusters of liveable planets in the
> sun's habitable zone.
>
> BillK
>
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