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A comment on 'Megascale' structures that humans could one day build. Parent comment

Re:'Megascale' structures that humans could one day build by elihu on Friday January 15, 2021 @12:55AM (#25787502)
It's a minor detail of the setting of a story. I doesn't matter if it's practical in real life, it just has to be not be in contradiction with the fictional world of the story. Kind of like Star Trek allowing faster-than-light travel due to imagined discoveries in the fields of physics.

I like hard science fiction that's based in known physics, but I can still enjoy science fiction that's not totally realistic as long as it's at least consistent with itself and doesn't contradict known physics out of pure laziness or ignorance.

I think it's a better solution than just saying "Mars is at full gravity because of magic we won't explain."

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Re:'Megascale' structures that humans could one day build by Retric on Friday January 15, 2021 @07:43AM (#25790264)
The advantage of saying magic we can’t explain is you have fewer uses of other magic we can’t explain. Having that much mass moving near light speed requires absurdly strong materials etc. You need a silly energy source, etc etc.

Similarly, you get a lot of knock on effects from the other hand waves.

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