Re: starship-design: Numbers needed for Colonization

[Paul Anderson <madhobby@geeky1.ebtech.net>]

On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, Lindberg wrote:

> First, drop several 20km asteriods onto the planet over a short period.
>
Nah, nah that wrecks the terrain!  You'll hafta millenia before the huge
pits are gone, and you may not even get total annihilation.  A couple of
well-aimed neutron bombs, though, only kill and leave terrain(and more
importantly) metals and oil that may be undergound undisturbed.

> Simultaneously alter the climate with lasers and orbital mirrors. This
> alone should be enough to cause mass extinction. 
>
Remember man, scalpels, not clubs.  Climate alteration is better produced
using un-manned stations producing various gases(carbon dioxide and ozone
in necessary proportions to bring planet inline).

> Next, drop as much
> poison as you can into the air and waters.
>
Using the club again.  Remember, scalpel, scalpel!  You'll have to wait
another good millenium for the poison to pass.  Life cleansing should have
been completed with the neutron bombs, if not you need another volley.

> If we really
> don't like the result we could simply repeat the
> process.......Ethics?!...Where???
>
You only need to repeat the operation if you're sloppy and don't plan
things properly.  By this stage you should be ready to put together a very
basic ecosystem, and then build up in complexity.

> P.S.  Personally, I am nauseated by the above proposal.
> 
Well, to be the devil's advocate, it _IS_ practical, especially if you
just conquered the lifeforms inhabiting said planet.  It makes a nice
Darth Vader-like insult to wipe out an imputent enemy's world, the more
brutally the more resonance it gives the act.  Kind of like mass-torture,
but easier.  TTYL!


---
Paul Anderson
madhobby@geeky1.ebtech.net
"BETTER LIVING THROUGH RECKLESS EXPERIMENTATION" - Motto of The Mad Scientist
"Less talk, more synthahol." - Worf

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