|
Platystemon posted:Seven and a half times, at the start of the series. Yeah, if it came down to a conventional war then Mars would have the space advantage in the short term and Earth has the ground advantage with 20+ billion people having lived at full G all their lives. In terms of comparison to where we're at right now, it'd be like the Chinese army corps vs. like, the U.K. and French ground troops, just no contest in terms of bodies you can throw in there. I give Earth the serious edge over time with so many people to draw upon and still the strongest pure resource base in the system, and only needing to ship resources around by train or plane instead of on spaceships that need to constantly produce air and water, and when the resources do arrive it's to bases that also need to constantly generate their own air and water. As has been covered, if it was a no-holds-barred brawl both sides could easily wipe out the other with missiles, asteroid impacts, etc., but if one side did it all it would really take is a few surviving enemy ships to do the same to the other side, so it's pretty much a cold war situation, if during the cold war both sides were willing to accept the occasional military base or aircraft carrier being blown up (basically the Canterbury and Donnager situations) and not immediately jumping into full-on war.
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 04:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 8, 2024 07:26 |
|
|
Does Mars have an authoritarian government? I'm getting kind of a Zeon from Gundam vibe from them.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 04:48
|
|
|
Subyng posted:Does Mars have an authoritarian government? I'm getting kind of a Zeon from Gundam vibe from them. No, it's Republic. IIRC, It's the MCR = Martian Congressional Republic I'm not sure if it's more expansionist Rome type republic or expansionist USA type republic or a combo of the two.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 04:50
|
|
|
Subyng posted:Does Mars have an authoritarian government? I'm getting kind of a Zeon from Gundam vibe from them. No. We don’t know much about the structure of Mars’ government, but it’s not authoritarian. e: I was going to compare it to an overgrown city‐state, but that’s just my opinion. There’s nothing hard to go on.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 04:54
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:This shot gives me vague vertigo but I like the attempt to show how spin stations work. I thought that shot was great! One of the best of the first two S2 episodes.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 05:18
|
|
|
NowonSA posted:As has been covered, if it was a no-holds-barred brawl both sides could easily wipe out the other with missiles, asteroid impacts, etc., but if one side did it all it would really take is a few surviving enemy ships to do the same to the other side, so it's pretty much a cold war situation, if during the cold war both sides were willing to accept the occasional military base or aircraft carrier being blown up (basically the Canterbury and Donnager situations) and not immediately jumping into full-on war. And both sides would have to make the assumption that the other hasn't already rigged asteroids up with engines and enough guidance systems to hit the other planet. Which isn't a terribly hard thing to do.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 05:23
|
|
|
I mean, what really is the difference between having fusion weapons and having a fusion drive that has enough delta v loaded to slam a rock into someone? Well, now that I think about it, a rock already packs a ton of gravitational potential energy into its existence.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 06:14
|
|
|
“A reaction drive's efficiency as a weapon is in direct proportion to its efficiency as a drive.” Solomon Epstein’s yacht is traveling at 5% the speed of light, which gives it insane kinetic energy.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 06:16
|
|
|
Phobophilia posted:I mean, what really is the difference between having fusion weapons and having a fusion drive that has enough delta v loaded to slam a rock into someone?
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 06:20
|
|
|
Also, there really isn't a fundamental difference between networked nanotech and networked microorganisms, they operate at the molecular level and are governed by similar principles. If you want a sci fi story about networked microorganisms going out of control, read Greg Bear's Blood Music.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 06:23
|
|
|
If nanobots were capable of destroying us, bacteria would have beat them to it long ago.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 06:25
|
|
|
I dunno, bacteria seem to give it a pretty good go every so often.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 06:32
|
|
|
Josh Lyman posted:I don't think your second sentence makes sense. Using a rock as a weapon means you have all the kinetic energy put into it from your rocket engine + the inherent gravitational potential energy from its orbit.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 06:38
|
|
|
The same is true for everything in space. Everything is orbiting something.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 06:45
|
|
|
Loomer posted:I dunno, bacteria seem to give it a pretty good go every so often. Bacteria kill large numbers of individual organisms, but they haven’t made much effort to kill all multicellular life, as “grey goo” scenarios posit.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 06:51
|
|
|
That's because the bacterias and the organisms they'd like to kill evolve in parallel and are based on the same "design principles", things are being kept in check. If you introduce a foreign entity, an organism has absolutely no means to deal with, it's case closed. Nanotech and bacteria aren't that comparable.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 15:33
|
|
|
Alien life might not even interact with us in a way that's familiar. You could have alien bacterial analogs that could use our bodies as a favorable substrate for growth, but wouldn't be "infecting" our cells, just using them as raw material. It might not even make you sick like earth bugs, our immune systems might not be able to recognize or react to something like that if the chemical composition isn't inherently immunogenic. So your body might start breaking down or developing growths and your immune system would be none the wiser.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:13
|
|
|
ATP_Power posted:Alien life might not even interact with us in a way that's familiar. You could have alien bacterial analogs that could use our bodies as a favorable substrate for growth, but wouldn't be "infecting" our cells, just using them as raw material. It might not even make you sick like earth bugs, our immune systems might not be able to recognize or react to something like that if the chemical composition isn't inherently immunogenic. So your body might start breaking down or developing growths and your immune system would be none the wiser. Terrence McKenna had a theory that mushrooms were alien life. The spores are nearly indestructible and could survive in space. His theory was that the psychoactive components plugged evolving lifeforms into a sort of cosmic consciousness internet.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:48
|
|
|
Cpt.Wacky posted:Terrence McKenna had a theory that mushrooms were alien life. The spores are nearly indestructible and could survive in space. His theory was that the psychoactive components plugged evolving lifeforms into a sort of cosmic consciousness internet. Don’t do drugs, kids.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:50
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:Don’t do drugs, kids. It's honestly not that far-fetched aside from the consciousness part. It's essentially the organic equivalent of Von Neumann probes, and organic solutions are often more efficient than the mechanical stuff we've been able to come up with so far. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H55wybU3rI
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:55
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:No. The show calls the Martian Navy the Martian Royal Congressional Navy... I don't think the "royal" title is mentioned in the books, so maybe in the show there's a King (or Queen!) of Mars?
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:18
|
|
|
Snuffman posted:The show calls the Martian Navy the Martian Royal Congressional Navy... The “R” is “Republic”.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:22
|
|
|
Snuffman posted:The show calls the Martian Navy the Martian Royal Congressional Navy... Martian Congressional Republic Navy. MCRN.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:24
|
|
|
It's AQUA not agua. As in the Latin for water. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:27
|
|
|
Collateral posted:It's AQUA not agua. As in the Latin for water. Really? It sounds a lot like a G when he yells it. No other Spanish in the show tho...
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:30
|
|
|
Collateral posted:It's AQUA not agua. As in the Latin for water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agua AlternateAccount posted:No other Spanish in the show tho... Sasa ke. tooterfish fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Feb 8, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:30
|
|
|
flosofl posted:No, it's Republic. IIRC, It's the MCR = Martian Congressional Republic I think it's pretty clearly meant to be expansionist like the USA. Terraforming the planet is their version of the manifest destiny. It's just more explicitly something the entire society is striving towards according to a grand plan. Mind you, being a republic doesn't mean much by itself with regards to being authoritarian or not.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:34
|
|
|
If the books are a guide the Martian government seems like a pretty recognizable modern congressional republic, but the mechanics of the Earth and Mars governments aren't explored in great detail I don't remember if they even say if it's a parliamentary system or a US style system.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:52
|
|
ATP_Power posted:If the books are a guide the Martian government seems like a pretty recognizable modern congressional republic, but the mechanics of the Earth and Mars governments aren't explored in great detail I don't remember if they even say if it's a parliamentary system or a US style system. I think Babylon's Ashes made it sound like a parliamentary system.
|
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 00:03
|
|
|
AlternateAccount posted:Really? It sounds a lot like a G when he yells it. No other Spanish in the show tho... I just rewatched it with my partner and the phonetic sound the belter shouts is definately akwa.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 00:42
|
|
|
How long after the episodes air do they show up on Amazon? Is there a chance of watching tonight's episode online?
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 00:58
|
|
|
Kassad posted:I think it's pretty clearly meant to be expansionist like the USA. Terraforming the planet is their version of the manifest destiny. It's just more explicitly something the entire society is striving towards according to a grand plan. Is that really expansionist, though? Terraforming doesn't encroach on anyone else's territory. Colonialist, probably, with respect to the Belt.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 01:02
|
|
|
Toast Museum posted:Is that really expansionist, though? Terraforming doesn't encroach on anyone else's territory. Colonialist, probably, with respect to the Belt. Terraforming requires them gathering massive amount of water, carbon dioxide, and other materials from the outer solar system. Their treatment of the belt is directly related to the terraforming project.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 01:06
|
|
|
IIRC basically all of the water ice from Ceres ended up on Mars for instance, hence the reliance on water shipments from Saturn.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 01:09
|
|
|
Ersatz posted:How long after the episodes air do they show up on Amazon? Is there a chance of watching tonight's episode online? I usually get an email from Amazon about new episodes being available sometime in the middle of the night after it airs. edit: The first email for season 2 came at 12:15am Feb 2, so they are probably available around midnight PST. withak fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Feb 9, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 02:46
|
|
|
Sometimes I get those e-mails and when I try to actually watch it, Amazon is like, “Psych!” for a couple of hours.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 02:55
|
|
|
Ersatz posted:How long after the episodes air do they show up on Amazon? Is there a chance of watching tonight's episode online? Amazon is never consistent with a time. Sometimes they'll appear right at midnight, other times at like 5AM, and sometimes even later.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 03:31
|
|
|
It's "Owkwa". It's on the SyFy page for the Belter Creole 101. http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse/blog/belter-creole-101 According to the Expanse Fan Wiki, it has it's roots in Finnish.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 03:54
|
|
|
Need a better thread title anyway. Suggestions go.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 03:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 8, 2024 07:26 |
|
|
Hahaha. Miller moving the bottle away. "I offered a snort, not many snorts" E: Wait, are we on different airing schedules or are we not posting during airing? This thread seems quieter than I expected.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 04:10
|
|