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"The proposed nuclear destruction of the Moon has been rejected by astronomers on several grounds" That made me laugh. I wonder if this is where Neal Stephens

"The proposed nuclear destruction of the Moon has been rejected by astronomers on several grounds" That made me laugh. I wonder if this is where Neal Stephenson got the idea for Seveneves which has the opening line "The moon blew up with no warning and with no apparent reason."

ikari_pl 3y ago
spoiler: we never learn the reason (it's not important to the story)
- MeImCounting 3y ago
  I think it is important! It is an unspeakable unknowable dread hanging over the entire story. Its brought up later in the book and remains a very scary, very foreboding mystery. It implies either an unfathomably powerful and malicious force or an unfathomably powerful and uncaring force, both of which are terrifying.
mtillman 3y ago
Along those lines, Chairface from Tick and Tim Robbin’s classic “would you miss it?” defense from Austin powers.
throwup238 3y ago
I appreciated the section afterwards just as much. For a man who gained infamy for wanting to blow up the moon, his publications are on relatively boring topics in advanced math.
aaronharnly 3y ago
I like that "the heating of Earth's atmosphere by a hail of falling lunar debris would be destructive to all life" is only the second of three cited reasons for the proposal's rejection.
- saalweachter 3y ago
  I think structurally it should have been third. As it's currently structured there are three objections. 1. We couldn't do it. 2. It would have disastrous side effects. 3. It wouldn't fix the problem you're trying to solve, and it would in fact make it worse. Objections 2&3 should be swapped, "all life on Earth would be vaporized" should really be issue #3.
MadnessASAP 3y ago
I would also like to print out: > And if it helps, he made it Over fifty years later and nobody thinks about nuking the moon very often anymore. Good job, Sagan. Mission failed, I am now thinking about nuking. A lot. Makes me wish I was a senior DoE officer in the 50s when you could nuke stuff to see what happened when stuff got nuked.

ikari_pl 3y ago

spoiler: we never learn the reason (it's not important to the story)

MeImCounting 3y ago
I think it is important! It is an unspeakable unknowable dread hanging over the entire story. Its brought up later in the book and remains a very scary, very foreboding mystery. It implies either an unfathomably powerful and malicious force or an unfathomably powerful and uncaring force, both of which are terrifying.

mtillman 3y ago

Along those lines, Chairface from Tick and Tim Robbin’s classic “would you miss it?” defense from Austin powers.

throwup238 3y ago

I appreciated the section afterwards just as much. For a man who gained infamy for wanting to blow up the moon, his publications are on relatively boring topics in advanced math.

aaronharnly 3y ago

I like that "the heating of Earth's atmosphere by a hail of falling lunar debris would be destructive to all life" is only the second of three cited reasons for the proposal's rejection.

saalweachter 3y ago
I think structurally it should have been third. As it's currently structured there are three objections. 1. We couldn't do it. 2. It would have disastrous side effects. 3. It wouldn't fix the problem you're trying to solve, and it would in fact make it worse. Objections 2&3 should be swapped, "all life on Earth would be vaporized" should really be issue #3.

MadnessASAP 3y ago

I would also like to print out: > And if it helps, he made it Over fifty years later and nobody thinks about nuking the moon very often anymore. Good job, Sagan. Mission failed, I am now thinking about nuking. A lot. Makes me wish I was a senior DoE officer in the 50s when you could nuke stuff to see what happened when stuff got nuked.