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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2015-10-15 15:52, Dan TheBookMan
wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:9FB3D799-1427-4525-BD2F-F0E7BECE0544@gmail.com"
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<div id="AppleMailSignature"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/15/the-strange-star-that-has-serious-scientists-talking-about-an-alien-megastructure/">http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/15/the-strange-star-that-has-serious-scientists-talking-about-an-alien-megastructure/</a></div>
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My two pence:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://aleph.se/andart2/space/likely-not-even-a-microdyson/">http://aleph.se/andart2/space/likely-not-even-a-microdyson/</a><br>
<br>
Still, there is an interesting astrophysics question here: if you
have a Dyson swarm and leave it with no guidance, over time it will
likely coalesce into planet(s). How fast is this process?<br>
<br>
I guess the answer depends on (1) the timescale of a ring of
equidistant collectors coalescing (which in turn is related to
Maxwell's work on the stability of Saturn's rings; see
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.26.5176">http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.26.5176</a> for
a take on the control problem), and (2) the effect of having
different inclination rings near each other. Any ideas?<br>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University
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