7 ms·
Humans don't deserve these weapons. > You sure? Nuclear weapons are guaranteed to bite you eventually, being stupid enough to have them sorta implies you deser
by erdos4d 6y ago
Humans don't deserve these weapons.
> You sure? Nuclear weapons are guaranteed to bite you eventually, being stupid enough to have them sorta implies you deserve your eventual reward.
- contravariant 6y agoWe're going to need a lot worse if we're ever planning to deflect/mine asteroids. Sometimes there are good reasons to invent abusable techonology. And well, of all the ways the millennia old weapons race could have ended, it could have been worse.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoIf we're going to colonize the Solar System, nuclear weapons are going to feel like child's play. Any propulsion system capable of interplanetary travel in reasonable time frames (weeks to months) is also a weapon of mass destruction, just due to energies involved.
- contravariant 6y agoColonizing the Solar system is slightly more attainable than mining asteroids, but yeah the energies involved are pretty massive.
- just_steve_h 6y agoYou going to blow up your enemies with a solar sail?
- TeMPOraL 6y agoNo, just with the lasers that propel that sail. (I did mention reasonable durations of travel.)
- Aerroon 6y agoA big asteroid, a rocket to get there and a whole bunch of paint would already be a weapon of mass destruction.
- lostlogin 6y agoWhere does the paint come into it?
- zaarn 6y agoIf you paint the asteroid red racing stripes, it gets faster.
- barry-cotter 6y agoIf you can change the reflectance/albedo of the asteroid the pressure of sunlight will push it into a slightly different orbit. That different orbit is one where it hits what you want it to hit.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoI'm going to guess it's a reference to the most recent season / one of the later books in Expanse series. Spoiler (rot13): Fbzr Orygref fgbyr ohpxrgf bs fgrnygu cnvag sebz Znef zvyvgnel, hfrq gurz gb znxr n srj nfgrebvqf zhpu uneqre gb qrgrpg, naq gura chg gur ebpxf n pbyyvfvba pbhefr jvgu Rnegu sebz nsne.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Aerroon 6y agoI'm not sure about The Expanse, but barry-cotter is right. If you can change the color of the asteroid then through the change in radiation pressure you can change the orbit of the asteroid. This can have a fairly substantial effect over a long period of time.
- hire_charts 6y agoWhat makes you think it has ended?
- CamperBob2 6y agoProblem: Giant asteroid heading for Earth Solution: Nuke it Problem: 15 medium-sized radioactive asteroids heading for Earth
- bigiain 6y agoSolution: 15 more nukes!
- Gupie 6y agoProblem: 225 radioactive asteroids heading for Earth
- bigiain 6y agoWe've both played asteroids, right? We know asteroids only sub divide twice. Now we just need to get those next 225 nukes off before the alien spaceship passes through and starts shooting. (Of course, then another 4 big asteroids appear...)
- TeMPOraL 6y agoBetter solution: land a bulldozer against it, powered by a nuclear engine. Outcome: a giant asteroid parked in Earth orbit, ready to mine for all its worth. (Hell, if you're lucky, the bulldozer may only need the fuel to get there, and then can use bits of target asteroid for reaction mass. A nuclear-thermal nozzle will eat anything.)
- uncledave 6y agoAlso Bruce Willis funeral.
- jacobwilliamroy 6y agoYou just reminded me that most of the wars in the fictional Ace Combat universe are fueled by the abuse of giant megaweapons designed to protect the earth from asteroid impacts. Gave me a good chuckle.
- ineedasername 6y agoOnce someone else has them, it may be a rational choice to get some yourself.
- hansel_der 6y agothis line of thinking is a race to the bottom
- ineedasername 6y agoYes, it is. Unfortunately, especially under conditions of uncertainty, rational decisions don't always produce the best results.