Living in Space



We often dream of a future out in the galaxy, exploring and settling strange new worlds under the light of alien suns, but what would living in space truly be like?
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Chapters
0:00 Intro
05:55 Lighting
13:31 Gravity
23:42 Non-Human Life
27:26 Costs
30:19 Cultural
33:00 Social Dynamics

Listen or Download the audio of this episode from Soundcloud: Episode’s Audio-only version: https://soundcloud.com/isaac-arthur-148927746/living-in-space
Episode’s Narration-only version: https://soundcloud.com/isaac-arthur-148927746/living-in-space-narration-only

Credits:
Living in Space
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
Episode 411, September 7, 2023
Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur

Editors:
Briana Brownell
Merv Johnson
Shaun Moss
Donagh Broderick
David McFarlane
Konstantin Sokerin

Graphics by:
Fishy Tree
Jeremy Jozwik
Katie Byrne
Ken York YD Visual
Sergio Botero

Music Courtesy of:
Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator
Stellardrone, “Red Giant” “Ultra Deep Field”
Sergey Cheremisinov, “Labyrinth” “Forgotten Stars”
Taras Harkavyi, “Alpha and …”
Miguel Johsnon, “So Many Stars”

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44 thoughts on “Living in Space”

  1. The world's median IQ falls into the 80's, and intelligence is probably declining for the kinds of reasons Edward Dutton talks about on his YouTube channel. In other words, our planet is clogged with billions of people who are barely smart enough for jobs in stoop labor, while there are nowhere near enough people who have the IQ to handle the cognitively demanding jobs involved in building a technologically competent global civilization which could colonize the rest of the solar system. For some reason the transhumanists don't want to talk about this problem with their futurist fantasies.

    Reply
  2. Hey Issac i was looking at subs and noticed david is 3000 subs ahead it seem like its a slow race now to a million. Do you and prof Kipping have a small bet to who gets there first. Im also wondering who started there channel first and do you guys joke about it

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  3. It could be the case that some developmental process in human embryology requires our gravity very specifically to determine where to divide certain stem lines. Raise gravity too much, and your eyes are in your mouth. Lower it too much and you get one eye on the top of your head. You might establish your colony only to find nobody can produce living offspring, and it might not be immediately obvious the gravity is to blame.

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  4. Nearly all representations of space habitats are graphics exercises and bear no relation to reality of materials and processes. E.g huge single pane windows ! 10psi over hundreds of square feet. Not possible with known materials and the frames would be massive machinings with rows and rows of fasteners ! Next are doors, so many things wrong with the way doors are represented !!

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  5. My intuition is that plants should be more vigorous under spin gravity. The lesser gravity at their tops will aid in capillary action, making it easier for them to transport water and nutrients from their roots to their leaves, with less support structure needed to hold those leaves up, leading to bigger healthier canopies.

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  6. 2/ gravity needs a 250m minimum radius at less than 2rpm to produce a livable near 1g environment. I.e one where rotating your head doesnt result in nausea and make you fall over. One of the few things kubrik got wrong in 2001.

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  7. Not sure I agree that 24/7 light is going to be a problem. I worked in Antarctica during the summer for 5 months when it was 24/7 sunlight. It's really not a problem. You're outside or in offices with windows during the day. Then you come inside or go further into the station during the night time to eat, have some drinks with friends, watch a movie, etc. That's mostly in rooms that have no windows. Then you go to sleep in a room that also has no window. You're body just sort of assumes the sun has gone down. When you wake up and go outside again it's sunny. Sun cycle wise it felt really similar to being at home.

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  8. I keep wondering why rotational habitats on planetary surfaces are almost completely overlooked. It’s always planetary surface gravity vs centrifugal ”gravity” on orbital facilities. A 1g habitat on Mars, for example, would be a simple upscaling of machines that have existed for centuries on Earth—1. A car moving on a banked circular track or 2. A large-radius centrifuge. Both vastly easier to engineer than an orbital rotational habitat, especially given that humans have millennia of experience in engineering both small and mind-bogglingly enormous structures, both fixed and moving, in a gravitational environment. Why no love?

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  9. True Gravity force comes with mass on the move, so a spin gravity to keep human body in check will play a trick on the body until our body will figure it out its being lie to. The spin gravity is not the same , as center-fusion force it will grow with in going in to the center, so we humans are not 100% prep for small object and high spin, – like a rotary space station, our human body is used to be on a large object- like a planet, and rotation is slow, the mass of the object works harder than the spin and there is reverse center-fusion force,- way better. TH

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  10. No air gaps within space based designs CAN be done, however, it takes both real effort as well as exacting engineering tolerances.

    While not cheap at first, this would be worth it, and key, in fact, to proper space based designs.

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  11. You know, I feel like you're talking about low-g in terms of cellular processes and the body's ability to deliver nutrients to itself and stay fit, and I'm just thinking about lions with moon gravity mods.

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  12. It is interesting contemplating living on other planets, terraforming them, or humanity becoming emotionless robots. I personally think all of that is at best silly!

    All planets, even Earth are harsh and deadly habitats for life, including humans. From extreme weather events to cataclysmic volcanic and tectonic activity, large meteor impacts, etc., planets are going to kill you! Almost everyone needs some danger in their lives, but ideally when they choose and at their chosen risk level.

    Spin gravity habitats enclosed in a protective shell(s) is the obvious answer. Over long time periods, humanity will evolve as will a multiplicity of different environments to live in or to preserve. Unless artificial gravity is created, spin gravity cylinders from O'Neill island sized to McKendree continent sized cylinders, in various groupings inside of protective shells, seems to me the obvious choice for eons to come. Everything else just seems like uneducated fantasy to me.

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