Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sri-unix!VLSI@DEC-MARLBORO From: VLSI%DEC-MARLBORO@sri-unix.UUCP Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: constructed worlds Message-ID: <1958@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Fri, 13-Jul-84 20:07:00 EDT Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.1958 Posted: Fri Jul 13 20:07:00 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 16-Jul-84 07:41:20 EDT Lines: 59 From: John Redford Here are all the constructed worlds that I can think of, including the ones that have been mentioned already: "Ringworld" and "The Ringworld Engineers" by Larry Niven - The classic example. There is some planet-shuffling in "The World Out of Time" as well, but no planet construction. "Orbitsville" by Bob Shaw - Dyson sphere with Earth-like condtions inside (well, Earth-like except that the sun never sets). I think there's a sequel out now. "The World is Round" by Tony Rothman - Jupiter-sized hollow planet whose main reason for existence seems to be to make it tough for the people on it to realize they are living on a sphere. They go ahead and prove it anyhow, using the same techniques we did. "Wall Around a Star" by Jack Williamson and Fred Pohl - Extra-galactic star-size planet attacks the Milky Way. "The Farthest Star" also has the same premise. "Strata" by Terry Pratchet - People find Earth-moving machinery left over from an alien civilization and start to roll their own. "Cageworld" by Colin Kapp - Four volumes in this series are out now. Giant computer builds shells around the Sun to provide more living room. The old planets (the "cageworlds") sit in gaps in the shell like ball bearings in a race. Kind of glosses over where all the material comes from. "Starmaker" by Olaf Stapledon - A history of intelligent life in the universe, with lots of macro-engineering towards the end, eg hollowing out crusts of dead stars. "Titan","Wizard", and "Demon" by John Varley - Creatures a hundred kilometers across with habitable conditions inside and eccentric masters. "Maker of Universes" by Philip Jose Farmer - Humanoid aliens make pocket universes as playgrounds. Earth is one of them. There are several books in this series, but this was the only title I could remember. "Riverworld" only counts as terraforming (not that digging a million mile long river is easy), not as real planet construction. And finally let me mention "The New Cosmogony", a short story by Stanislaw Lem (collected in "A Perfect Vacuum"). The trouble with all this cosmic engineering is that we don't see it taking place. Surely if re-arranging stars were possible, some alien race would already be out there doing it. Lem's answer is that the early civilizations have gone beyond that; instead of manipulating crude matter they work with the stuff of physical law itself. Anomalies like quasars are past mistakes. Asymmetries like the spins of muon emission are problems that are not yet worked out. The theory would be proved if we saw these wrinkles being ironed out. And why aren't there any intermediate level civilizations? Because the big boys don't want anyone else to play. It's time to start shielding our TV broadcasts. /jlr --------