Dear God, why do I read the comment sections?

[Gilhelmi]

I made the unfortunate decision to read the comments of grrlpowercomic.com today.

One commenter asked "So succubi need to have lots of sex to survive. They also can, apperantly, get pregnant from pretty much anything male. That seems like it could get inconvenient very quickly. I’ll make the assumption that, as an advanced race, they have developed some form of contraceptive measures."

Someone proposed a horrifying thought, Dyson Spheres

Another commented that if "Dark matter is really so common, why have we be unable to find it or create it on Earth."

Stop and think about the ramifications of this. All of the "dark spots" in the universe are actually giant Dyson Spheres. I mean, imagine growing up and, not only never seeing the stars, but not realizing there is a universe outside of your "sphere". Just think about how many people can live inside a Dyson Sphere, your number is probably low. Just the scientific and engineering marvel is astounding, requiring principles of science and physics that are unknown to us humans.

Just the thought that "this might be why we have never found life in the universe", because they are inside a giant ball in space. mind=blown

[Bloodsoul]

I think that's kind of how the D&D Spelljammer campaign setting works, but I've only ever read one book regarding Greyhawk/"Greyspace."

[Crossbow]

I think that's kind of how the D&D Spelljammer campaign setting works, but I've only ever read one book regarding Greyhawk/"Greyspace."

Similar, but not quite. There are still inhabited planets in Spelljammer, but the star systems in their entirety are enclosed inside spheres. Their "stars" were effectively embedded in the shell, and the gods of the local pantheon(s) pretty much lived there. The inhabitents of the planets would never know they weren't looking at the rest of the universe, unless they knew about spelljammers, etc. Think of it as similar to the early theories of how we saw the universe...



Dyson spheres are immense, but usually not as large. The theory was that a Dyson sphere would have the same radius as the orbit of the planet it was meant to simulate, probaly Earth-like.

To give a rough example of the size of one of these things, take a Dyson sphere that has a radius of 1 AU, same as the orbit of Earth. The surace area inside would be approximately 550 MILLION times that of our entire planet. Assuming a population of 7 billion people, each person could have a plot of land 1 square kilometer in size, and still only cover 0.000000025% of the inner surface.

[RootedPhoenix]

To give a rough example of the size of one of these things, take a Dyson sphere that has a radius of 1 AU, same as the orbit of Earth. The surace area inside would be approximately 550 MILLION times that of our entire planet. Assuming a population of 7 billion people, each person could have a plot of land 1 square kilometer in size, and still only cover 0.000000025% of the inner surface.

That's ...astonishing! *ponderous*

Dyson spheres seem awesome and kind of sad to me (no stars! boo). But they're really interesting.

[Racket_Man]

Dyson spheres are immense, but usually not as large. The theory was that a Dyson sphere would have the same radius as the orbit of the planet it was meant to simulate, probaly Earth-like.

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I always thought a Dyson sphere was always a little too ambitious. I prefer something equally grand but a bit easier like Larry Niven's Ringworld.

[Geek King]

The biggest issues with a Dyson sphere existing are gravity, space projectiles (like comets, asteroids, and random debris), and the solar emissions from the star you're enveloping. Nivin's ringworld was postulated in the first book to be built like it was (rather than a full sphere) to handle most of that. Gravity especially, since the ring could be rotated to provide gravity evenly, where as a Dyson sphere wouldn't have gravity over the entire structure using the same method. You'd need some Science-unto-Magic method of inducing gravity as you neared the poles of the sphere.

As to the stars, though, seeing those would be as easy as visiting the exterior hull of the complex. Something of that magnitude of building would likely have the tech to have viewports, after all. In fact, likely for just such aesthetic reasons, as well as practical, most inhabitants would probably live next to the outer edge of the sphere's shell, since most of the inner facing would be devoted to equipment for gathering solar and other forms of energy put off by the star itself.

And yes, I've probably read waaay too much postulations on issues surrounding the building of Dyson spheres versus ringworlds.

[Ironclad Alibi]

A more recent development in fiction is half a Dyson Sphere. Check out Bowl of Heaven and Shipstar by Larry Niven and Gregory Benford.

[Jetfire]

One of the current theories for a Dyson Sphere (which actually harkens back to the original theory of the Dyson Sphere) is more of a Dyson mesh.

Instead of having a solid sphere around the star, you just have a fleet of solar collectors in various orbits that will capture the solar energy. So there wouldn't be any/much living space on this sphere, but you mostly dodge the problems of having a solid structure. Basically think of a dense 'forest' around the star with the leaves being solar collectors that are constantly 'rustling' as they move around the star. Theoretically you could still have gaps in the mesh on the orbital plane so the planets will still be useable too.

(Most recent example I can think of is actually in Marvel Comics. One of Tony's plans for the countless calamities 616-MU Earth was facing was to build a Dyson mesh solar collector roughly inside Mercury orbit so he would have energy to do Big Things if he needed to.)

This mesh is more similar to Dyson's original theories, since he was mainly focused on energy collection, and not on living space.