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I daydream that an undersea civilization resented the pillaging of their entire ecosystem and attacked the mining robot in self-defense. But no, probably just

I daydream that an undersea civilization resented the pillaging of their entire ecosystem and attacked the mining robot in self-defense. But no, probably just a mechanical failure. Soon they'll be back to sterilizing the ocean bottom. Sigh.

Jiocus 6y ago
> I daydream that an undersea civilization resented the pillaging of their entire ecosystem and attacked the mining robot in self-defense. That might be the claustrophobic plot of Underwater (2020). Deep-sea mining operations in the Mariana Trench.
- throw_away 6y ago
  Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laundry_Files#The_Jennifer_Morgue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laundry_Files#The_Jennifer...
542458 6y ago
Edit: ignore this post, I was wrong. > Thirty years on, the test that Thiel and a colleague devised is still the largest experiment ever on the potential impacts of commercial deep-sea mining. Called DISCOL, the simple trial involved raking the centre of a roughly 11-square-kilometre plot in the Pacific Ocean with an 8-metre-wide implement called a plough harrow. The simulated mining created a plume of disturbed sediment that rained down and buried most of the study area, smothering creatures on the sea floor. The test revealed that the impacts of sea-bed mining reached further than anyone had imagined, but it did not actually extract any rocks from the sea bed, which itself would have destroyed even more marine life. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02242-y https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02242-y
- JoeAltmaier 6y ago
  This is probably one of the most fragile, delicate ecosystems on the planet. It could take 100 or 1000 years to recover from the sterilization. Low-impact? We have very different definitions for that phrase.
  - j-pb 6y ago
    Reminds me of that TNG episode where they try to terraform a planet inhabited by sentient crystals, ignorant of the delicate and mousy life already present.
- rjeli 6y ago
  for the lazy: no, not that Thiel

Jiocus 6y ago

> I daydream that an undersea civilization resented the pillaging of their entire ecosystem and attacked the mining robot in self-defense. That might be the claustrophobic plot of Underwater (2020). Deep-sea mining operations in the Mariana Trench.

throw_away 6y ago
Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laundry_Files#The_Jennifer_Morgue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laundry_Files#The_Jennifer...

542458 6y ago

Edit: ignore this post, I was wrong. > Thirty years on, the test that Thiel and a colleague devised is still the largest experiment ever on the potential impacts of commercial deep-sea mining. Called DISCOL, the simple trial involved raking the centre of a roughly 11-square-kilometre plot in the Pacific Ocean with an 8-metre-wide implement called a plough harrow. The simulated mining created a plume of disturbed sediment that rained down and buried most of the study area, smothering creatures on the sea floor. The test revealed that the impacts of sea-bed mining reached further than anyone had imagined, but it did not actually extract any rocks from the sea bed, which itself would have destroyed even more marine life. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02242-y https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02242-y

JoeAltmaier 6y ago
This is probably one of the most fragile, delicate ecosystems on the planet. It could take 100 or 1000 years to recover from the sterilization. Low-impact? We have very different definitions for that phrase.
- j-pb 6y ago
  Reminds me of that TNG episode where they try to terraform a planet inhabited by sentient crystals, ignorant of the delicate and mousy life already present.
rjeli 6y ago
for the lazy: no, not that Thiel