Aucf-cs.542
net.sf-lovers
utzoo!decvax!harpo!duke!ucf-cs!carter
Tue Apr 27 15:19:30 1982
Ringworld inconsistency


     That's a good point utcsrgv!donald made about the Ringworld
meteor defense.  That is, hostile forces would be able to sense the
solar disturbances and avoid the laser, or hide behind the ringworld
and bore in from underneath somehow.  Really, the whole idea of
influencing the ringworld's sun in order to burn up the rare meteor
or repel invaders seems like overkill.  A nifty idea, of course, but
I'd call it a literary device to make the ending come out right rather
than a practical solution to an imaginary problem.
     I was puzzled by Niven's brief explanation of how the Pak died
out.  Some disease, he said?  I thought they were supposed to be smarter
than that.  He never did say much about how the whole thing was built.
The ringworld was a grand conception, but I felt that there was not really
much story beneath all the gadgets and gizmos.

     Bill Carter, U. of Central Fla.