Coming and Going: Navigating Space Between Megastructures

Our future in space may be one of millions or even trillions of vast space station, space habitats, and megastructures. How would a space-faring civilization going about traveling around such an immense solar empire?
Visit our sponsor, Brilliant: brilliant.org/IsaacArthur/
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @isaacarthursfia
Visit our Website: www.isaacarthur.net
Join Nebula: go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur
Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur
Support us on Subscribestar: www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a...
Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264
Reddit: / isaacarthur
Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content.
SFIA Discord Server: / discord
Credits:
Coming and Going: Navigating Space Between Megastructures
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
Episode 251; August 13, 2020
Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur
Written by:
Isaac Arthur
Jerry Guern
Tristan Underwood
Editors:
Jerry Guern
Keith Blockus
Cover Art:
Jakub Grygier www.artstation.com/jakub_grygier
Graphics:
Bryan Versteeg spacehabs.com
Darth Biomech www.artstation.com/darth_biomech
Fishy Tree www.deviantart.com/fishytree/
Jarred Eagley
Jeremy Jozwik www.artstation.com/zeuxis_of_...
Justin Dixon
Ken York / ydvisual
Katie Byrne
www.artstation.com/samdanielj...
Sergio Botero www.artstation.com/sboterod?f...
Steve Bowers www.orionsarm.com
Udo Schroeter
Music:
Markus Junnikkala, "We Roam the Stars"
www.markusjunnikkala.com/
Aerium, "Fifth Star of Aldebaran" & "Windmill Forests"
/ @officialaerium
Miguel Johnson, "So Many Stars" & "Into the Wormhole"
/ migueljohnsonmjmusic

[@littlegravitas9898]

Just going to Navigate my way to the fridge for a snack and a drink and I'll be right back.

[@murderedcarrot9684]

I was navigating too the fridge for a beer but got hit by space debris in the form of a grilled cheese sandwich.

[@littlegravitas9898]

@@murderedcarrot9684 my anti-collision systems for those kind of debris is always broken, for some reason.

[@tim57243]

Hope you don't qualify as megastructure all by yourself.

[@littlegravitas9898]

@@tim57243 unless maintenance gets to work fixing that faulty -anti-sandwhich- anti-collision system, then I'm afraid I may start looking like a cylinder of O'Neil proportions

[@Phelan666]

fat

[@michaelwinter742]

I wish I could go forward in time and read arguments by flat O’Neill-cylinderers.

[@tonyhinders4429]

You don't have to if you convince people we live in a o neill cylinder

[@TheTerryscotttaylor]

@RuleofVicus and that's exactly what a time traveler would want us to believe...

[@lukasmakarios4998]

Imagine living in a Topopolis and thinking that your world is all there is in the universe, or that there is nothing "out there" worth believing in.

[@dingo4530]

​@@lukasmakarios4998those airlocks were built by God to test our faith

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

A shell covering a space dock also keeps wrenches and cameras from floating too far away.

[@ellinar1]

"in the interest of brevity" Who are you and what have you done with Isaac?

[@s.patrickmarino7289]

Big ideas require heaps of words. Do I use fewer words and have some people not understand? Do I use more words and induce comas in some of my victims? It is a very hard dilemma.

[@Roxor128]

Depends on your definition of "brief". Isaac's is somewhere in the neighbourhood of "five minutes per sub-topic", whereas most people are on a scale of under thirty seconds. Your average content creator would try to cram this into five minutes, ten at the most, and barely say more than three sentences about each structure.

[@FixItStupid]

@@s.patrickmarino7289 YOU MEAN LIE'S OF GREED

[@FixItStupid]

He's IS The PR Firm mouth piece FOR NUCLEAR GREED LIES That Kill EARTH & Give Us ALL CANCER

[@timazbill7746]

He must be watching Paul Harrell videos

[@SmartK8]

Isaac's hypothetical future structures are better thought out than real government's projects today.

[@ghostlyphantasm2352]

The government doesn't have to be able to think to survive, it's not been an essential requirement for some time now. This is why we are doomed! Doomed I tell you!

[@KRYMauL]

Ghostly Phantasm I think in the coming years we’re going to more cyberpunk before coming out the other end looking similar to Expanse minus the whole proto-molecule stuff. Blade Runner -> Expanse -> Alien

[@cf453]

You know how I can tell you've never worked on a public infrastructure project? I'm in the middle of building a bridge right now. It was very well thought out.

[@vladimirlenin843]

Budget issue i guess

[@cf453]

@RuleofVicus In 75 years my public infrastructure project will still be standing. Were you intending to ping me in 75 years? Which bridge collapse are you thinking of? FIU? The CEO is female, but all of the senior engineering and inspection staff in charge during the collapse were male. We followed the case very closely. Trolling is bad for your mental health. I'm concerned about you. Are you OK?

[@stevenschofield8518]

Hey Issac I just wanted to say if I could only pick one channel to watch forever your channel would win that award hands down...Thank you for expanding my mind and showing us the future.

[@FixItStupid]

You R Fool For Lies Of Nuclear

[@Alex_Rosefur]

Same! He gives me hope for the future. (Which has been lacking lately)

[@Maty83.]

Isaac is the person who got me into futurism. I still eagerly await any of his releases.

[@Bombardier7906]

strangely for me it was Exurb1a

[@Lawofimprobability]

He is probably the best presenter in a long time. I had took a look into modern futurism (the 1930s version gives me the creeps) and found a few people talking vaguely with no reference to engineering. Isaac is doing a great job by bringing up the engineering side.

[@jefferywise1906]

I was looking at the Mass Driver animation launching a ship. Rails above and below with essentially a sabot around the ship. That launches debris by design. If at launch speed the rails diverged and used magnetic breaking the sabots that would not only need to be recovered but still on the rail system. To be returned to the launch point by mag drive. Just a thought.... free fall rides in amusement parks use mag breaking already.

[@HiroNguy]

Check out how catapults on aircraft carriers recover the trolley the planes hook to.

[@uwtartarus]

This sort of futurism gives me a brief flicker of hope for the future when the world feels like an absolute garbage-fire.

[@Alex_Rosefur]

Same, gives me hope! (Which has been lackin)

[@naes6843]

The way Isaac Arthur presents his ideas, along with his many PhD. pals , makes me think that at 76, I guess living to Brother Arthur’s future would be OK. Yup, Isaac’s the very best futurist ever. Dave in Phoenix Arizona USA

[@alexv3357]

Of course, our distant descendants in these vast futuristic megastructures will lament the waste and decay and corruption of their societies too

[@michaelwinter742]

I’d love a show on future bureaucracy. Like, rule and regulations and code. Zoning laws. Other things like that. 🤷‍♂️

[@adamlytle2615]

If they ever "reboot" Firefly, they'd be wise to change the setting from "impossibly dense solar system that humanity somehow migrated to", to our solar system in a far future filled with mega structures. I guess the live action Cowboy Bebop might fill that niche. We'll see.

[@nullpoint3346]

We can't cast them, we simply don't have enough extras, nor outfits for the extras.

[@BosonCollider]

So like the expanse but slightly further in the future?

[@adamlytle2615]

@@BosonCollider well, kind of, only no alien artifact plotline. I just think a solar system filled with mega structures is a better setting for a sci-fi story without FTL than what Firefly did, which was a solar system with dozens of planets and moons that were either earth like or were close enough that terraforming could somehow be quickly done. Seems unlikely... Maybe not impossible, but unlikely.

[@fluffysheap]

... What? Firefly was a traditional space opera setting with FTL travel.

[@adamlytle2615]

@@fluffysheap they were a *little* ambiguous in the show, but a VO intro stated they colonized a singular solar system, and then apparently the film Serenity explicitly makes it clear there's no FTL. (From Wikipedia: "The film Serenity makes clear that the planets and moons are in a large system and production documents related to the film indicate that there is no faster-than-light travel in this universe.")

[@TheExoplanetsChannel]

Great video! 30:12 Looking forward to our collab release this sunday at 13:00 EST !!

[@revenevan11]

Omg you guys have a collab coming!?! I'm so excited!

[@d-l-d-l]

I am so grateful that, unlike the asteroid belt, I managed to stumble into this channel without even trying. Thanks for the amazing and fascinating videos every time

[@echoecho3155]

Something I was thinking about while listening to this, but imagine you have a bunch of O'Neill Cylinders either at a LaGrange Point or just orbiting a planet and you have thousands if not millions of ships passing between them every day. Eventually, all the spent reaction mass - O2, CO2, H2O, and whatever else - will begin to build up around those colonies due to gravitation. Would it be possible for this "space pollution" to eventually cause navigational hazards? Or, even worse, possibly create friction that could knock the colonies from their orbit? If they're orbiting a planet, it may also add to the planet's atmosphere, potentially causing hazardous effects to the world below due to adding various greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Or am I overthinking this and would the gases simply evenly disperse to the point of becoming a non-issue over time?

[@garret1930]

They would likely disperse throughout the relevant orbits, however you are correct that they would start to build up if you have enough orbital activity. The solution would be to recycle the material with something like a giant mass scoop.

[@lololman]

As long as they are far enough away from the planet, there shouldn't be any problem, since Earth's atmosphere actually extend very far out into space and molecules are constantly leaking out to space and arriving on asteroids anyway. There would probably be a thin layer of atmosphere around these megastructures given enough time, which might be a good thing - an extra layer of protection against space debris.

[@wolfvale7863]

propellant would disperse almost instantly as there is nothing to stop it from shooting out of shipping lanes. If your ship is up another's tail. You will have interactions with whatever fuel is being expelled which will act on your ship.

[@Zarcondeegrissom]

interesting thought, and I honestly don't know how much engine exhaust would need to be dumped around a collection of O'Neill Cylinders, before the solar wind and lower pressure of deep space didn't blow/disperse any accumulation of gasses away.

[@thebaccathatchews]

Last time I was this early the series was called "Alchemy and Prophecy" 😁

[@Ag3nt0fCha0s]

Did you watch it by scrying with your crystal ball?

[@thebaccathatchews]

@@Ag3nt0fCha0s Crystal balls were too expensive. I had to use a bowl of water.

[@blindyeti7313]

@@thebaccathatchews You owned a bowl? Ooooooo, look at the fancy rich guy here, I had to hold the water in my hands. Bowls were too expensive. 😊😛😜

[@anoninunen]

@@blindyeti7313 _ You've got hands? #BeholdAMan 😁

[@notyourbusiness8340]

@@anoninunen You Amateurs, back in my day i had to scry by spitting myself in the eye in an arc

[@evanescentenquirer2684]

Hey Arthur I came up with another reason to run a simulation of a civilization. What if a civilization recently got the power to run a universe simulation, and ran multiple of them, at high speeds, until the people in the simulation got more advanced than the people in real life, and then the irl people reverse engineer/copy the technology from the people in the simulation? Also sorry for how I worded this, and if someone came up with this before, I haven't heard about it.

[@wolfvale7863]

Us: Virtual people give us your technology. Vitual people: Uhmmm...no. Us: But you're human like us. Virtual people: Uhhmmm...no. 'click' That's how that will go.

[@andyf4292]

ever read David Brin's ' stones of significance'?

[@alexseymour135]

@@wolfvale7863 nah itll be more like : give us your tech or we'll unplug you

[@danielhall271]

And what would happen when those simulated people start running their own universe simulations?

[@D347Hza]

There is an episode in Rick and Morty where Rick build a micro world, the people in there evolve until they become advanced enough to produce power which he uses to power his car, but then they discover the technology to build a micro world and use that power to for their own world, thus his car battery dies. So it could be similar with a virtual world where they build sub layer of virtual world and you suddenly realize they are use too much processing power and have to convince them to stop running simulations in the simulation - mind blow of the day lol.

[@leonausten1800]

Here for it Isaac ❤️

[@patriot1724]

Léon Austen u are the first person to comment

[@DanielGenis5000]

Got my snack ready and drink at hand, thanks Isaac!

[@andersrahm424]

You the best

[@rdc515]

Got my snack ready and drink at hand without any clue this was going to drop. Almost as if someone whispered in my ear to be ready.

[@SourGr4pe]

Absolutely love that you can hear the cicadas in this video! Please don't ever change the audio. I intend to listen to this one over and over again.

[@RCAvhstape]

I never would've thought that I'd hear somebody talk to me about walking or taking a train between Earth and Mars and take it seriously. Today it happened.

[@linz8291]

Interstellar gates and trains should be build by our space projects launching in the upcoming decades, because we needn't to rejects the new homes among the habitable extroplanets.

[@acerba]

I'm calling it now: Trans-Neptunian habs are going to be the coolest.

[@nicosteffen364]

Well then you need a big light collector or a giant powerplant, as there is not enough sun light there to grow crops!

[@jr2904]

@@nicosteffen364 the marijuana growers will have us covered

[@b-man2961]

That would be far out man! :-)

[@alexandernorman5337]

It's even cooler in the Oort cloud.

[@FixItStupid]

@ acerb I've never seen the comment section with so many brainwashed people Nuclear END From Greed LIES

[@sab1751]

I'm the 300th like... like Leonidas would say: "This, is, SFIA!" : )

[@tariqahmad1371]

This is fascinating

[@JoelDowdell]

I'm at the beginning of worldbuilding a solar system that is in the process of becoming a dyson swarm, loosely based on the outward bound series. This video is perfectly timed for me.

[@XxFusionsk8rxX]

It's funny that this video was the one that gave me this thought. Issac, you're rather smart and I love your videos, but how in the world do you keep track of what subjects you've already covered? It's like your mind never quits with this stuff. You always have new content that is completely wholesome and not just bits and pieces. I'm trying so hard to recommend your channel to anyone I know or encounter that love Science and Futurism. You truly deserve it. This is the kind of content that I wish was taught in schools.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I have actually had occasions where I had a good episode idea, or had one suggested, started typing, and remembered I'd done an episode on it before. Thankfully not too often, since I either have to find a new topic or find some other interesting aspects of the topic to cover, which admittedly isn't usually too hard either

[@wolfvale7863]

I recommend his videos too. Especially to people who say things like... oh it's ruined! the world is ruined! the future is ruined!..Then you pop them an SFIA link.

[@XxFusionsk8rxX]

@@wolfvale7863 There's only one way I see humanity as doomed or our future as doomed. And that is if we as a whole don't accept our past as the past, love one another and strive to work together in the present, and that opens up the future to the amazing opportunity of Space. A lot or vast majority of everything Issac has covered could become Science fact instead of Science fiction or become Reality rather than Concept.

[@wolfvale7863]

@@XxFusionsk8rxX To make sure it is a reallity, we need to clone Isaac and Elon. 10 copies should do it. Wonderful teachers that take our eyes and minds to better possibilities.

[@XxFusionsk8rxX]

@@wolfvale7863 I don't know how Issac would feel about cloning, but I think Elon would do it. But I agree. With more individuals as themselves, this world would be more knowledgeable and I feel that alot of this would be science fact already.

[@ampPLrant]

I'm going to assume that topopolises spin at the normal orbital speed of the orbit they ring. Given that, if you had a topopolis that was on the a "transfer orbit" between the earth ring and the mars ring, you could walk (mostly, see below) from one world to the other in a matter of months to years. The reason is that the "transfer ring" will be moving in a transfer orbit, so the ground you are walking on will move from earth's orbit to mars' in a matter of a few months. The complication is that the junctions from the earth ring to the transfer ring and the transfer ring to the mars ring will be moving VERY fast. This means you would have to get launched into the next topopolis using a rail gun or something, but with an appropriate suit and a parachute you might be able to walk/climb/float to the central axis of the next ring and then do what amounts to a gun assisted parachute jump from the central axis. And this, while not walking, would be extremely awesome.

[@TubususCZ]

The problem with this setup (or, well, with _any_ setup that features a ring-shaped megastructure spread over an elliptical orbit) is that the orbital speed at periapsis is larger than at apoapsis, so the gravity of the central body would basically work to stretch the ring in some places while compressing it in others. Sure, maybe you could make the topopolis out of some slightly elastic material, but what would that do to the terrain inside? And even if you had some kind of superhard material that doesn't stretch nor break (questionable, if such material even can exist), that would still mean that there would be some variations in the direction of gravity inside the tube. In any case, there would be a _lot_ of stress on the structure as a whole. (And that's before we get into the inherent instability of freely rotating/orbiting solid rings. That can at least be solved by attaching stabilising engines on parts of it or by anchoring the structure to something that _is_ stable.)

[@ampPLrant]

@@TubususCZ I think slowly changing and stretching terrain is something people could get used to. But I see your point.

[@timezone5259]

Issac Arthur Answering questions we never thought we would ask Since 2012

[@TheJuangabriel98]

How many drones does the 10:18 ship have XD, this looks like a good idea for a drone carrier in a sci fi series.

[@ericcomstock3237]

Based on my analysis, 262 drones. I would have put 256, though. Then I would have been able to use a "byte" variable as the drone ID! Note that this assumes that the only drones carried are the ones in the hatches that are being released; I would expect a drone carrier ship to attach to asteroids and constantly manufacture more drones. Also active-support ringworlds are awesome!

[@TheJuangabriel98]

@@ericcomstock3237 the aesthetic looks great, and practical since I assume every drones has its on pod that can be open and lower to the deck for repairs. Thanks for the number also!

[@Roxor128]

@@ericcomstock3237 I can imagine a production line running the length of the ship, churning out the basic parts, which get sent onto branches off to the drone bays, where final assembly and testing takes place, so there's always at least a couple ready to launch. Maybe be capable of launching three waves five minutes apart before you have to wait on assembly to get another one ready.

[@AzureAlliance31]

Holy crap an Issac Arthur & ParallaxNick collab. HYPE

[@Jameson1776]

Your content from the details on the topics to the animations are top notch. I’ve been following you for at least 5 years now and it just keeps getting better. The only channel I support on patreon.

[@rickjr426]

Dude, I love playing these in the background while I play Stellaris. Keep up the good work Isaac!

[@sheenaalexis8710]

I like playing these as the main entertainment. So interesting!!

[@TiagoTiagoT]

Docking into a floating hook tethered to the outside of a large rotating structure, to save braking fuel, and the inverse to launch in any direction along the rotation plane, sounds quite interesting. The sudden change in g-force needs some careful consideration though,

[@nicholashernandez4367]

Hey Isaac!!! Great video!!! You keep me excited for our future in space when upload new videos!

[@theonyxcodex]

Great work as usual. Remember, be sure to archive these videos. Consider using those M-Discs.

[@matthewlopes832]

Isaac, if you wrote a movie it would be the next Star Wars/Star Trek. Your knowledge and imagination are incredible. Your you tube videos alone have become my go to's over the majority of the most popular sci-fi titles.

[@matthewokeefe5438]

I am sure I am not the only one who would like longer videos with more expanded theory and discussion of details. Say every episode should be 40 plus minutes long. Really can not get enough of your content.

[@shamuschannel682]

You are the smartest dude I ever have listened to, I believe 🤣 this is so beyond my cognitive ability but man it’s fascinating !!! Love these videos

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@Psnym]

So much eye candy! Love the graphics!!

[@Lawofimprobability]

One concern is that as living space increases, the share of transportation infrastructure increases. Megastructures with large populations could probably predict the travel needs of the population BUT emergency needs (evacuation) or shifts in desires or technology might make previous infrastructure insufficient or redundant. In that respect, clear space could be way both the ability to adapt could be preserved and a way that traffic could be directed without committing transit path. Also, I suspect the vacuum of space would make a gauss gun type transport with a pressurized capsule being shot from one part of a structure to another with the recipient using magnets or light to slow it down.

[@nicosteffen364]

in case of Megastructures, the most important question is, are there enough Asteroids to build several of these? First you have to bring them close to a factory, melt it, split into different materials and produce parts. If we can achieve that, its possible.

[@alvarofernandez5118]

Those who believe megastructure are real options usually assume the planets themselves might be stripped of mass, and even dismantled. So you might take Mercury apart and use the iron. Asteroidal mass is not the limiting factor.

[@kellyhoffmann1]

Isaac, you are a great educator. I love these videos! All the best to you, my friend.

[@chunkydurango7841]

Hey Isaac, you’re the best dude. Never stop making these! I watch them regularly 😁

[@CrimeOfTheTrueKind]

so exited for collaboration !! been thinking this would be great since i first came across nicks channel.. when he announced he would be doing a collab i was like pls let it be arthur

[@robertseeley1808]

Would you please do an amalgam video on fringe ideas please? Maybe include things like Flat Earth, Electric Universe, Wolfram Physics or Extra/Lesser-Dimensional Life and other such things? I'm sure there may be a few such things spread out among your current library but to have a video where they are all in one place would be awesome.

[@MP-wg8pd]

I love these videos. :)

[@michaelwinter742]

We’ve talked about artificial gravity a lot. What might technologies look like if we could make the other forces artificially? Weak, strong, etc.

[@Obsidian762]

Have a great Arthursday everyone!

[@sadderwhiskeymann]

u 2. i am pretty depressed and SFIA is something i look forward to.

[@Lukegear]

YES!

[@shroomdark4383]

I have a little box full of food just for this channel 💕

[@williamwhitt9857]

Man, I love ArThursday. Keeps me from having to rewatch an older SFIA video. 🤣

[@sheenaalexis8710]

I LOVE this channel :D ♡

[@Rattlesnakesam]

Thanks as always Isaac 😎

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

My pleasure!

[@Aidan42781]

Issac, my guy, I love your channel so much and thank you profusely for your efforts in making Futurism realistic. I never much liked the pie in the sky singularity-new physics sorta crowd. I'm always excited to get alerts to new videos.

[@caitgems1]

I watch these at night to send me to sleep. I have great dreams 😁

[@Andrew-zq3ip]

Ditto. I play one every night.

[@caitgems1]

@@Andrew-zq3ip as soon as I started watching this I felt tired, it's like I'm programmed.

[@Rattus-Norvegicus]

I like Sean Carroll podcasts for the same reason, unfortunately it occasionally backfires and I end up listening to the entire thing... because they're good.

[@Kneedragon1962]

As usual, Isaac Arthur's a bit mind blowing... He does kinda jump around between a stream of very big ideas, and after a few minutes my mind get's a bit punch-drunk... You're picking up and examining very large and complex concepts, and then simply jumping on the next one, and ... it is exhilarating, but .... My poor old mind gets a bit boggled toward the end of one of these. It is an exciting ride.

[@WillRoyle0724]

awe inspiring

[@atomicmuffins1328]

Yee haw, popping the popcorn right now!

[@lr1a704]

I showed up an hour early to an appointment for my truck and decide to check youtube for entertainment. Lo and behold I am treated to something stimulating. Thanks Isaac!

[@firewolfquasar4230]

Man walking to mars just sounds so cool, I love this chanel

[@kj.6010]

MAN! You really know your physics👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@joshuaforbus5853]

Amazing...

[@TagiukGold]

While introducing the episode at the beginning, you should have an inset video of you doing the intro. Just a picture-in-picture in the bottom right corner for the first couple minutes.

[@theOrionsarms]

You don't need to accelerate or decelerate between rotating habitats, if you detach from the exterior in the right second can fly directly to another with the rotational speed, and if you destination have the same rotation speed can attach to it without deceleration.

[@wolfvale7863]

assuming they are on the same orbital plane otherwise the habitat further out has to go faster or it will fall. Quite a lot faster. You couldnt just reach out and grab it. Your arm would be 2kms away before you knew it.

[@theOrionsarms]

@@wolfvale7863 this concept was described in the book "the high frontier" written by O'Neil, ideally every house in a O'Neil cylinder would have in the basement a airlock connected to a container on the outside of the cylinder (their personal spacecraft), that would have only a graping sistem and RCS thrusters, obviously without a propulsion system range will be limited to few thousand of km(because relative speed will be 640 km/hours for a 3,2 km radius habitat) , but that it's only thing witch would be necessary to travel into all L5 area from a edge to another . But for a long range travel probably a space tug can be rented. And you cannot afford to to come with the wrong speed and in the wrong spot for docking to a space habitat, no matter what system of propulsion or docking technique you have, when you try to docking in space always you need to adjust your speed to the one of the attachment point to reach almost zero speed when you are at zero distance.

[@timevers6525]

If you connect structures, wouldn't it be easier to use spiralling maglev, that looks mostly like a curvy telefone wire? You can run trains over it where the spiral shape gives you rotational gravity.

[@dennycrane6253]

Wow I'm not 3 years late on my comment or viewing of this! Thank you Issac for sharing your smarts and vision

[@UpcycleElectronics]

9:07 How will language evolve to encompass periodicity? Will we hold on to a Frank Herbert style "Standard Year" or will it evolve?

[@UpcycleElectronics]

@@AelundTwitch Good points. I think we will need a revision of our base units.

[@blakelonghofer6825]

I read the title and I thought "Oh sweet. A video about inter-dimensional travel and mega structures." Then I realize its a bout a mega-structure traffic jam. "Sweet" >:)

[@WilliamFord972]

Greetings from Cuyahoga, Isaac!

[@user-qf6yt3id3w]

I kind of like the idea of using electromagnetic mass drivers to accelerate subway or sleeper train like vehicles between megastructures. Since you've got potentially hundreds or thousands of kilometers to do the acceleration at one end and the deceleration at the other you could imagine the speed once you hit free space as being literally astronomical.

[@notapplicable7292]

I see the word Megastructure and I get excited.

[@merbst]

Did I just hear "Sombrero worlds"? As someone who loves napping in the shade, I inaist upon watching that video next.

[@iamjetflight]

Stubbornness and REALLY wanting something could be a cool episode on it's own. There's a lot of times you go "... but we wouldn't do that anyway", but it would be cool to have a look at how you would go about, say, making the classic see-through dome habitat on some vaccuum moon or something if you REALLY wanted to, or other such things.

[@veejayroth]

Thank you for this episode, Isaac. Over the course of some months I have slowly begun to feel like some of the episodes are becomming more... shallow or... basic. With this I mean no disrespect as I am a grateful loyal fan of yours since the original Megastructures series and I still keep enjoying all the videos anyways. This episode, however, feels to me like it again covers some good breadth of subtopics, while balancing it with sufficient depth of insigth. Please, note that I assume zero authority or expertese to suggest any improvements to this awesome channel. Thise were just my 2 cents on idea I've been pondering for some time already. Also: the Emperor protects!

[@DevilTravels]

Just a thought. Instead of a Dyson Sphere, I call them a Dyson habitat (for living or a Dyson Structure (non-living). That seems to make more sense since it's better defined for purpose and shape. For instance, a Dyson Habitat might be a collection of hockey puck shaped modules connected together at the air locks as a farm or city, or military base. A Dyson Structure might be a solar energy transfer station or an observatory.

[@johnhortons6811]

Thank s

[@PHOBOS1708]

Hey Isaac, we both are nearly the same age and it's my deep wish that we will get old together with you explaining me the future of live, mankind and the universe.

[@chucktaylor4958]

One can set a course for a distant star, but there may be many obstacles to guard against.

[@jphillips7083]

Even if we Master space travel my family will still scream and yell at each other before we get through the airlock and into the ship. It makes my head hurt.

[@Rattus-Norvegicus]

You might have a tumor.

[@remo5274]

I’m sure it’s a tumor also

[@Rattus-Norvegicus]

@@remo5274 [Arnold Schwarzenegger voice]~ IT'S NOTTA TOOMA!

[@MichaelBirks]

Stop asking "are we there yet", or I swear I will crash this pod into the sun

[@donkeradon]

Here we go :)

[@iotcchan]

We always talks about hyperlanes,now my favorite megastructures to talk about is hyper-pedestrian-lanes

[@ottoalseely3609]

Isaac my friend your the smartest guy that I have ever ever heard. It is a privilege to learn from and Thank You Sir 4 teaching these fas subjects my brain is healing truly and wisdom is medicine.🤍♀️

[@chrisgaming9567]

I noticed some new footage in this one. Is it stock footage or some new custom animations?

[@gudmunduringigudmundsson9287]

This quality.. Pwnage!

[@alvarofernandez5118]

If you do enough "mind digitizing", not only might you not need all that much transportation at all, but you might not need the structure to be that "mega" in the first place.

[@KovesVids]

After the recent discovery of a mirror galaxy to the milky way at the dawn of the universe I'd like to know your thoughts. Did galaxies form quicker than what we are led to believe or is the big bang merely an optical illusion caused by the event horizon of space and time? ie. Did the big bang we know of today occur after the creation of the universe?

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

Mass Drivers have the Action/Reaction slowing them down problem.

[@Stillow]

i love how you say megastrukshor

[@imaginativeskydadytm1389]

Traffic... Traffic never change

[@denuncimesmo2568]

Hello isaac, just as we have on earth today the constant danger of satellite things (Kessler Syndrome), on a large scale with mega-structures, containing millions and millions of people living in their habitats, there would also be no equal or worse danger, mainly due to fact that as we know today we are visited by extrasolar objects such as Oumuamua. one thing is certain every object that enters the system will go towards the sun at high speed. It's one thing to protect ourselves from asteroids which we know their relative positions, now from foreign objects to conversation and another. congratulations on the videos.

[@bakaniellece9132]

Isaac is a legend for sleep education.

[@annoyed707]

An precessing orbital ring over both poles with elevators to Chile, Ecuador, New York, Montreal, China, Vietnam, Java;, linked to a topopolis connected to a circum-Terran planet swarm... Missing Ashtabula though...

[@triularity]

Now imagine the bovine O'Neill Cylinder, connected to the habitation O'Neill Cylinder, with a tube, sending a bulk shipment of various fresh meats every 2 minutes. Not to mention a ready supply of methane gas for all the open flame grills to cook that meat. Mmmm. mmm. mmm. 🤤

[@HebaruSan]

The really interesting thing is: What does a typical journey look like? If you're travelling from one habitat to another one somewhat nearby, and both are part of a ring of such structures in broadly similar solar orbits, then you might only need a small amount of delta-v to get there, compared to the costly launches-to-orbit and planetary transfers of our day. Drifting away at a few dozen m/s could be quite adequate, if you have the patience to endure a multi-week transit. Anything more would be potentially militarily useful but sheer overkill for anyone else. And if the distinction between ship and habitat is blurred as I suggested in a previous comment, who even cares whether you're technically travelling or not? You might just live your same life in between docking and undocking events and not even care. (I think this is implicitly presented in Alastair Reynolds' Revenger series, where most travel is via solar sails, credit to Isaac Arthur for recommending it.)

[@HebaruSan]

Ooh, another thought. If ships are rings and habitats are agglomerations of ships, then you could even reduce the need for propellant (and therefore expendable input mass to the overall system) by having the sections push off against one another forcefully at undocking, sending each piece off in the desired direction and speed. Maybe the docking mechanisms could have something like a railgun built in, where powerful magnetic fields generate an impulse by repelling the other side.

[@rooseveltNovember]

I've always assumed that surrogate robotic shells will be built on Mars. Humans can control them, remotely, from earth (much like a video game). These vessels can look like any human, animal, or whatever.

[@sheenaalexis8710]

The robots shown at 24:08, remind me so much of a praying mantis..lol.

[@jphillips7083]

Dude, space is big like huge man I mean like fully... yeah fully man!

[@Rattus-Norvegicus]

If this blows your mind you should listen to Alan Watts.

[@SunchaserWorld]

This is a well thought out topic. Did you come up with this topic and ideas or is this an amalgamation of ideas/discussions already out there? (That 31:19 seconds just flew by :D) These are the details we don't tend to think about in Sci-fi stories and space fantasies, but make up the bulk of everyday life. Good video to start the day :D

[@PhysicsPolice]

Dude I'm a recovering alcoholic and I'm on a diet, please stop telling me to grab a drink and a snack. :D

[@HebaruSan]

If all ships were rings for spin gravity, maybe they could dock together to form larger cylinders, and/or O'Neill cylinders could split off sections as needed. This could even help with traffic congestion, rather than 100000 craft a few km apart getting in each other's way, you could have 10% or 1% as many aggregated structures.

[@floydthibodeaux1844]

Holy crap, I love how this guy pronounce structures!!