Oddly enough I was thinking about the economics of planetary invasion earlier this week (having just watched Cowboys and Aliens). In one of the Stainless Steel Rat books, set in a future with lots of interstellar space travel, the main character makes a point that such an undertaking is impossibly demanding in terms of resources and logistics. That, in turn, made me think that portraying civilizations that are wholly based on invasions (like the bad guys in Independence Day) is the only thing that makes sense. Unless maybe the bad guys are like the Imperial Empire and have a galaxy full of planets to suck dry on command.
In the early 1980s, when Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle were persuaded to write their excellent Footfall (intended as an "old-fashioned 'invasion-of-earth' tale"), Niven kept arguing that they couldn't do anything until they'd come up with a reason to invade the earth that made enough sense for him to get behind it. (This is the kind of thinking that I've always loved Larry Niven for.) ("OW!") Anyway they came up with a fantastic set of ideas as the solution. I love that book. ("OW!")
From msn, If you've ever asked yourself "What am I going to do with the $852 quadrillion I stashed under the sofa cushions?" (Oprah, we're obviously talking to you), why not consider building your own Death Star? According to calculations posted on Centives, a blog run by Econ students at Lehigh University, building Darth Vader's planet-destroying mega weapon would cost "roughly 13,000 times the world's GDP" and would require so much steel -- writing the amount uses 15 zeroes -- it would take more than 833,000 years to produce it.
Oh well. The second-best thing to owning an intergalactic weapon? Reading the counter-arguments in the Centives article's comment section.
"Math nerds calculate Death Star cost at $852 quadrillion"
2 Comments -
Oddly enough I was thinking about the economics of planetary invasion earlier this week (having just watched Cowboys and Aliens). In one of the Stainless Steel Rat books, set in a future with lots of interstellar space travel, the main character makes a point that such an undertaking is impossibly demanding in terms of resources and logistics. That, in turn, made me think that portraying civilizations that are wholly based on invasions (like the bad guys in Independence Day) is the only thing that makes sense. Unless maybe the bad guys are like the Imperial Empire and have a galaxy full of planets to suck dry on command.
Just saying.
February 21, 2012 11:31 PM
In the early 1980s, when Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle were persuaded to write their excellent Footfall (intended as an "old-fashioned 'invasion-of-earth' tale"), Niven kept arguing that they couldn't do anything until they'd come up with a reason to invade the earth that made enough sense for him to get behind it. (This is the kind of thinking that I've always loved Larry Niven for.) ("OW!") Anyway they came up with a fantastic set of ideas as the solution. I love that book. ("OW!")
February 22, 2012 12:38 AM