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Grrl Power #1027 - 1:1 Scale (Patreon)

Published:
2022-02-28 11:00:06
Imported:
2022-03

Content

Thanks so much for your support! For serious!


Yeah, dams and giant shipping container boats don't really mix. It's not like you have to get the boats into the middle of a country for them to be useful, but the closer you can get to where you want them before you have to start relying on trains and mac trucks, the faster and cheaper it's going to be. I don't think anyone's ever created a boat lock that can handle one of those mega shipping container boats, but then our world doesn't have super powers either.

While it's initially tempting to want to print out an entire jet fighter in one go, there are actually a lot of reasons not to. You still need separate parts and lots of hatches and panels for maintenance. If it's all one piece, or if the frame is all one piece or something, if it takes significant damage to one wing, then you kind of have to scrap the whole thing. I think there's a considerable leap between a matter replicator and a handheld "wave it at a broken part and fix it" repair module. The repairer would need to be able to de-replicate broken bits and edges (without causing a fission explosion) and then seamlessly integrate new matter into existing structure. So you still build larger things in parts and assemble them. And honestly, if printing out a jet fighter wing only takes 90 seconds, then it's probably not too hard to have a stack of spares laying around. Assuming you have a few hundred kilowatt hours to spare.

The answer to "How many replicators could a replicator replicate if a replicator could replicate replicators." will always either be zero or infinity. Although it the question itself qualifies "if a replicator could replicate replicators," then the answer is always going to be infinity. Yes, assuming there's not some dick move software preventing the unit from duplicating itself, but honestly, once you reach a tech level where you have matter replicators, all it takes is one open source project and then all the companies trying to monopolize the technology are donezo. And of course the answer isn't actually infinity, partially because infinity is not actually a number, but also just general wear and tear means you'll only get so many out of each unit, even with maintenance, before you're better off replacing the thing. So I guess the answer is... 42.

Files

Comments

Justaguy

There's a few new ones might try: The dimensions of the Kieldrecht Lock are: Length: 500 metres (1,600 ft) Width: 68 metres (223 ft) Operational depth (TAW): 17.8 metres (58 ft)

Anonymous

the panama canal has several locks the classification of ship "panamax" comes from the fact that the ship was the maximum size to fit in the locks (they have since been made bigger). Also the st.lawrence river in quebec and ontairo fit larger than panamax ships there are 9 locks and a height difference between lake Michigan and the Atlantic of 183 ft

Anonymous

In terms of pure physics, there's no limit to how big you can build a lock. In terms of political will, the limit to lock construction is how much of the money the local count/mayor/governor/bishop/senator can skim off the top.

Andrew

Deus sounds like the sort of lateral thinker you want to keep on retainer for situations like say... you got a big boat stuck in a canal. My first idea at a creative solution involves drones. Lots and lots of drones.

Michael Obert

He sure does wear smugness like a glove; it's well earned, I'll give him that

Ol' Firebones

🎶Get up there Sal, we've passed that lock...

Person

So long and thanks for all the replicators?

Souliris

Yea, the energy output from a huge dam, would produce enough energy to make... 1 screw on that craft (assuming they use screws).

Christopher Upton

Chris Kennedy's Janissaries series (in which I die a glorious death, but with my hair untouched) has a pretty good take on all of Halo's (because she's Working) question. Chris Kennedy Publishing (CKP) has spat out an astounding number of books of the last few years, with the Four Horsemen Universe (a collaborative series.)

Anonymous

so the replicators are just 3D printers that can work with any material? gosh imagine the issues a nossle jam would have on that

Anonymous

There are designs out there for a low impact "side of the river" whirlpool* turbine that wouldnt impede ship movement. Stack them on the sides of the river every quarter mile vs 1 large dam.

Chase the Dragon

"...jump up dams like salmon." Oh hey, it would be like a salmon cannon but for large boats.

Kensai

I used to install radar systems on barges going down the Ohio River. We would meet the barges at the dam locks, install the systems while they would transfer the barges through the locks, ride the barge down to the next set of locks while we finished the job and tested. It really depends on the size of the lock system on how long it takes to send a barge through. So yes, dams and barges DO mix. Your thought of single huge container ship is flawed for river transport, those are used for ocean transport. Think railroad cars for barges, each container tied together to make a single transport.

Anonymous

Actually the question of "How many replicators could a replicator replicate if a replicator could replicate?" Is NOT either zero or infinity. The answer depends very much on how long a replicator remains functioning before parts irreversibly wear out (for Real Life illustration of the issue, consider bioreplicators, i.e., living organisms).

Anonymous
>>78824150

That's good information. On the case of the huge container ship, however, do note that is in a 'Sydney's imagination' bubble, so it is highly unlikely to reflect reality.

akrasia

...and they can also replicate swimming pools full of gold. Thus placing them in the "imminent danger to the entire world" category.

Darla Donahue

The Panama Canal is limited by the length of it's older locks, but even it can still accommodate Cargo ships with 20 horizontal rows of containers that are almost a 1,000 feet in length and 161 feet in width, and 50 feet in depth for 56,000 tons per ship. So its quite possible that even old tech shipping locks would solve the problem here, much less with future tech.

Ian Brown

I mean, as much as everyone keeps mentioning dams and locks, I think he's probably just going to whip up a Stargate (or Rivergate?) big enough to put a cargo ship through. After all, he already has wormhole travel as shown when he gated offworld to pick up the MassFabs.

Eric Loken

Just to be clear, the Star Trek replicator - at least how it is usually envisioned - is nonsense. You cannot make something from nothing. It just doesn't work. The normal idea is to have a pile of materials and you use nano-machines to disassemble raw materials, and reassemble them into what you are wanting to build. But you have to be *very* careful that your nanobots don't get carried away and you result in a 'grey goo' scenario. But you still need materials for them to work with. They do the assembly, but they need a lot of power, all the usual materials (some of which are hard to come by, rare earths for example), and computer oversight. And it takes time for a nanometre scale thing to travel around. The Star Trek replicator was originally envisioned as energy to matter conversion, but the problem with that is the energy needs for such a thing are *enormous*, like blue super-giant type output level enormous. Atomic fusion required to create even something as simple as an iron atom requires the heart of a blue super-giant, to create more complex atoms requires near luminal speed impacts between complex atoms, at a massive scale (i.e. take CERN centuries to create a kilo of material, at enormous cost). If you are going to hand wave that away and say that they can simply assemble the atoms in the required configuration that is needed, then Deus would literally have absolutely nothing to offer them on the station, because anything they want they could just spit out of their magic replicator and thus the entire premise here falls to pieces. Also galactic society would be post scarcity and there would have been no problem with the refugees, and there would be no conventional commerce because nobody would need to buy anything because of the magic easily available replicator. And if the magic replicator *isn't* easily available, they would never have sold them to Deus. Also, such a device with that level of power conversion and efficiency... that would make nth tech look primitive. Star Trek eventually realized this, and started saying that what a replicator does is disassemble raw material stored in one place, and reassemble it elsewhere as the object you wanted. At that point it becomes a fancy transporter that can simply reorganize the molecules or even atoms it has available as desired. In Discovery they talked about the replicators using shit to make food, and why not? Feces is predominantly carbon, as is almost all life. So, disassemble the feces into the separate molecules (or atoms, works better if you can do it at the atomic level, and fundamentally that is what the transporter does anyway), pull some additional hydrogen, oxygen, sodium, potassium, and whatever other minerals you need out of storage, and reassemble them into what you need. You would still need titanium, aluminum, gold, etc. to create your complex devices. And it still needs a fuck ton of power. Just not the insane levels of the creating titanium out of thin air idea. So, best case scenarios, he needs major city level power to run his factories, and piles of materials that people won't necessarily be in a hurry to sell him. Oh, and saying resistance results in high casualties? Duh! Insurgencies always take high casualties, and all it does is piss off the insurgents and make them fight harder - something the US military (and the Nazis, and the Russians, and the British, and...) never seemed to figure out. Meanwhile your side isn't fighting to defend their home, or their culture, or their way of life, they are fighting for a paycheck, and they get more and more demoralized with every buddy they lose, *especially* if doing it in a far distant land, and soon the atrocities begin. ANd finally... the day of fancy high tech hardware like jet fighters and tanks ruling the battlefield is coming to an end. ATGMs and MANPADs that cost a small fraction of the target, and drones that cost a small fraction of an attack jet but still carries a missile, is bringing those days to an end. Again, sure, sci-fi jet fighter with fancy defences... still gets killed by the sci-fi MANPAD that fires a kinetic kill weapon at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light. and still costs a tiony fraction of the sci-fi jet fighter. Its the age old conflict between offence and defence, and blowing shit up is always cheaper than building it in the first place.

Marc Vun Kannon
>>78822625

I recently saw an ad for a portable turbine that you can put in a river to power a cell phone. Sounds like a scaled up version of that. Dams are kind of old school.

rhekke
>>78857331

Not to mention, when your shock troops are literally demons it's hard to convince people that you're not evil.

Jeremy

He is just going to make one of those fish cannon things large enough to put an entire carrier ship through.

PSadlon

Keep Sydney away from Deus. They'll give each other ideas.

Robin

sydny's imagination pales in comparison to the real thing https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AFalkirk_Wheel_Timelapse%2C_Scotland_-_Diliff.webm for instance?

Anonymous

Locks that handle massive container ships are why the Panamax class of ships exist. Built specifically to maximize the amount of cargo that can pass through the locks of the Panama canal