Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!db.toronto.edu!jdd
From: jdd@db.toronto.edu ("John D. DiMarco")
Subject: Re: 2010
Message-ID: <1988Mar2.125820.352@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
Organization: University of Toronto, CSRI
References: <8802261606.aa19896@note.nsf.gov>
Date: Wed, 2-Mar-88 12:58:19 EST

In article <8802261606.aa19896@note.nsf.gov> fbaube@NOTE.NSF.GOV (Fred Baube) writes:
>Isn't it inevitable that somewhere along the way Jupiter will
>undergo stellar ignition ?
No it isn't. Jupiter does not have nearly enough mass.

>I read somewhere that Jupiter could have been a star, if only the
>same quantity of matter were more compact, creating higher
>internal pressures.
Internal pressure does not make a star - high temperature does. Jupiter could
be considered a stellar object only if its internal temperature increased to
the point of commencement of Nuclear Fusion. There is no known way for this to
occur without considerably more mass.

>I'm assuming that there is a chemical process that is exothermic
>(i.e. creating a net energy output, or breaking even, but not
>requiring an energy *input*) that can process the constituents
>of the Jovian atmosphere into denser products.
Chemical compounds do not exist (for the most part) in stars - stellar
temperatures are too great. In any case, I don't think there is any such 
possible process.

>If this is the case, then won't some biotek jock invent the bug
>that will perform this process ?  And if it's invented, won't
>some wise guy let it loose ?
What an idea! I'll fly off to Jupiter and turn it into a star! I'll be
famous... :-)

>More philosophically, isn't any process that increases entropy
>bound to occur, no matter how great the scale, so long as people
>can evade the XEPA (Xeno-Environmental Protection Agency) ?
Not necessarily. Dropping a Nuclear Bomb on New York will increase entropy, but
it does not necessarily have to happen. Do you honestly think that anything
that increases the amount of disorder in a system must occur?

John
-- 
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    John DiMarco           Hard work never killed a man ...
jdd@csri.toronto.edu          ... but it sure has scared lots of them! 
{uunet!utai,watmath!utai,decvax,decwrl,ihnp4}!utcsri!jdd      jdd@utcsri.UUCP
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