The premise of the Rock City is a construction project going up to one hundred floors underground in an initial cross-section of two miles by two miles for an aggregate of four hundred square miles of floor area in the entire structure. That's easily sufficient to accommodate the Dallas / Fort Worth complex because a great deal of area will be eliminated due to the elimination of most roads.
All power for the Rock City is generated by a nuclear reactor and the hot water byproduct plus the nuclear waste get processed as appropriate for a green overall environment. The plumbing is a top-down system which is supplied from an external source and gravity-fed to the Rock City. Any 'grey water' from this process is recycled to capture anything impurifying the water such that the clean water can be returned to the environment. There is also a large central computing complex driving the myriad functions of the Rock City.
A general schematic exists for how the Rock City is divided by strata to define an entertainment area, living area, work area, public area, etc. All of these general infrastructural considerations wrap into the overall profile of the Rock City, the cleanest and greenest city man has ever built and it's the least dependent on artificially important constructs of the previous century (e.g. cars, etc). There is no internal combustion engine in the Rock City since all power is from electricity.
Major sociology right from the top as we instantly create the upper class Morlocks when we move people underground. H.G. Wells envisioned the Morlocks eating the Eloi and that's a bit extreme since humans are probably much too fatty for that to be good. The Eloi won't be the mindless slaves they appear to Wells but they won't be the upper class.
Richies will always take care of wherever they are better than anywhere else because it seems the advantage of rich. If you can't do that then what's the point of being rich. I don't want to get too Psychology 101 but does something get better to a richie because someone else doesn't have it or because something has some intrinsic value.
We revile classes on principle in any form. Someone may earn individual respect for whatever reason but that shouldn't ever be extended to some class of people simply because they exist. Out of the question. Poppycock. Folderol.
The next huge sociological engagement comes from the fact there are not that many jobs. Robo automation has been heralded many times here on Ithaka and you need to get a grip on the extent of it to understand how much it affects the workforce now and how much more effect is coming. it's evolution in an action and it's far beyond anything an individual can resolve.
Might as well take the screams now since this requires a guaranteed universal wage and this exercise is going full-out Socialist. The economy changes radically when there are many people with the ability to give but no opportunity to do it due to the absence of jobs.
Keep in mind it's not much better for jobs on the ground level, particularly on farms where robo automation is roaring. It's not likely any farms larger than the citizen farms supply villages will survive because it will get too expensive to field a human staff relative to robo support because the farm owner has to buy the machines anyway (e.g. combines, etc). The ones he buys now are much, much smarter than in the old Oklahoma movies.
In fact, people may watch "Oklahoma" and that sort of movie in the future for the surprise at seeing things humans once did.
Let's hold at this point to see if any screaming comes but keep in mind the plan is to destroy the money-based economy as well. It's primitive, feudal, and destructive ... but at least it's easily corrupted, right?
Keep in mind also this is a sci fi story and may never happen anywhere. Every aspect of it is hypothetical.
Note: one consideration we observe in existing rock city projects is the non-military designs are specifically feudal in terms of extending underground this mall over here and that enterprise over there. That kind of half-ass design will only wind up in chaos and preferably we would design better than that. There must be an RCPC (Rock City Planning Commission) to supervise the overall project to prevent that kind of haphazard and probably unsafe construction.
An additional consideration is there can't be any magic sci fi which does something impossible just because it's sci fi and we can get a pass for that. Everything has to have a grounding in real science or it's just a cartoon.
All power for the Rock City is generated by a nuclear reactor and the hot water byproduct plus the nuclear waste get processed as appropriate for a green overall environment. The plumbing is a top-down system which is supplied from an external source and gravity-fed to the Rock City. Any 'grey water' from this process is recycled to capture anything impurifying the water such that the clean water can be returned to the environment. There is also a large central computing complex driving the myriad functions of the Rock City.
A general schematic exists for how the Rock City is divided by strata to define an entertainment area, living area, work area, public area, etc. All of these general infrastructural considerations wrap into the overall profile of the Rock City, the cleanest and greenest city man has ever built and it's the least dependent on artificially important constructs of the previous century (e.g. cars, etc). There is no internal combustion engine in the Rock City since all power is from electricity.
Major sociology right from the top as we instantly create the upper class Morlocks when we move people underground. H.G. Wells envisioned the Morlocks eating the Eloi and that's a bit extreme since humans are probably much too fatty for that to be good. The Eloi won't be the mindless slaves they appear to Wells but they won't be the upper class.
Richies will always take care of wherever they are better than anywhere else because it seems the advantage of rich. If you can't do that then what's the point of being rich. I don't want to get too Psychology 101 but does something get better to a richie because someone else doesn't have it or because something has some intrinsic value.
We revile classes on principle in any form. Someone may earn individual respect for whatever reason but that shouldn't ever be extended to some class of people simply because they exist. Out of the question. Poppycock. Folderol.
The next huge sociological engagement comes from the fact there are not that many jobs. Robo automation has been heralded many times here on Ithaka and you need to get a grip on the extent of it to understand how much it affects the workforce now and how much more effect is coming. it's evolution in an action and it's far beyond anything an individual can resolve.
Might as well take the screams now since this requires a guaranteed universal wage and this exercise is going full-out Socialist. The economy changes radically when there are many people with the ability to give but no opportunity to do it due to the absence of jobs.
Keep in mind it's not much better for jobs on the ground level, particularly on farms where robo automation is roaring. It's not likely any farms larger than the citizen farms supply villages will survive because it will get too expensive to field a human staff relative to robo support because the farm owner has to buy the machines anyway (e.g. combines, etc). The ones he buys now are much, much smarter than in the old Oklahoma movies.
In fact, people may watch "Oklahoma" and that sort of movie in the future for the surprise at seeing things humans once did.
Let's hold at this point to see if any screaming comes but keep in mind the plan is to destroy the money-based economy as well. It's primitive, feudal, and destructive ... but at least it's easily corrupted, right?
Keep in mind also this is a sci fi story and may never happen anywhere. Every aspect of it is hypothetical.
Note: one consideration we observe in existing rock city projects is the non-military designs are specifically feudal in terms of extending underground this mall over here and that enterprise over there. That kind of half-ass design will only wind up in chaos and preferably we would design better than that. There must be an RCPC (Rock City Planning Commission) to supervise the overall project to prevent that kind of haphazard and probably unsafe construction.
An additional consideration is there can't be any magic sci fi which does something impossible just because it's sci fi and we can get a pass for that. Everything has to have a grounding in real science or it's just a cartoon.
11 comments:
Ok so you gravity feed it in but will have to pumpit out.
Nuclear is not green friendly. There isnt a suitable green solution for nuclear waste. And the same can be said for either eliminating or capturing the heat generated from the waste water.
These are key issues,to be solved.
But I think the biggesr issue is why would I want to live there.
Most if us enjoy walking in true sunlight breathing fresh air. And getting the hell away from everything
TV sreens cant do that. Even the HaloDeck would suffer dramatically in comparison
Pumping - yep, that will be a constant demand and has to be in the overall design spec for how much juice is needed to drive the whole system.
Nuclear may be greenest relative to total poisonous products, environmental damage, etc, so long as water is cooled before being returned and the nuke waste is disposed as in an earlier article about long term stable storage. Those issues are huge before the project can be called real and I'm ok with the stable storage of the waste but not with the hot water.
There's got to be a lot of poisonous stuff in solar panels so what happens with these when the extra-cool far-better solar panel comes out and they need to be replaced. Can they be recycled or does that become waste. I'm looking at the end-to-end environmental impact not only whether something is clean to run. My problem with wind turbines is whacking a whole lot of birds and more turbines means more croaked birds.
As to why I'm in there, it's tough to make an objective answer which removes the window to one side. It doesn't give much light but there's some, it changes from night to day, etc, etc. There's no way to know if that's really necessary for the psyche. I can throw that image on a wall in an ultra-realistic wall but we will still know it's an image. Unknown if that would be satisfactory.
I'm thinking it's possibly satisfactory because much of the time we don't want the outside air because it's too hot or too cold. We can easily go outside if we like because there are also times when we do want that breeze.
One huge advantage is the Rock City is immaculate and a whole roster of 'bots will keep it that way. It should smell better but we don't even know what it means to live without some of the smells of civilization. Maybe we would think it stinks (larfs).
The biggest variable I'm hearing in the question is why would I be comfortable in my pad when I could be in a place with real windows looking out to something. I'm thinking generally it's possible it would be comfortable but what will make it something I prefer. It's nice that the place is clean, it's safe, it doesn't smell, etc but that's not the snapper that gets me going, man, I'm diggin' this.
Of course you would be comfortable there as you have lived or worked indoors most of your life.
We already covered the need for sunshine to keep the pysche intact. You might be able to fool that with specific specrtrum lights.
I dont understand the desire. But I dont have to understand.
The desire is the cities everywhere are dominated by cars more than what they do. Therefore, the Rock City is a proposal for 3D existence which obviates the need for that kind of transportation and eliminates a tremendous part of the overhead of life. That's one of the biggest drivers for it and with that concept in mind the next thought is how to make it cool. It's all very well to have practical shoes but they probably won't get you any dates. We want it all.
Another aspect is to move past Motie thinking. Whenever they did anything, they designed a new solution for it. That's highly inventive but it also makes chaos when used as part of a bigger system. The larger general thought is to scrap the cities because they're poorly-designed, tapped out (e.g. sewer systems dating back centuries), and are almost impossible to upgrade. Therefore, do it like Canberra: design it and then build it to spec.
Canberra isn't a case study. I just now they designed the layout of the city and then built it around concentric circles. After it was built, the Moties get their shot and I'm sure it's just as chaotic as anywhere else outside the perimeter.
Electric driverless Uber/Lyft cars solve an awful lot of those problems.
Parking lots/garages are obsolete.
Almost all steets now double in capacity as there is no need for street parking just pickup dropoff areas
Elon will take care of the electricity generation he has thrown away more ideas on the subject that probably any man who ever lived
While smart minds can probably solve all the logistical roadblocks to Rock City. I still dont not understand while I would trade where I am and essentially move into a well lit cave
Those Uber cabs should replace Yellow cabs with no trouble and eliminating a lot of jobs but that doesn't cover the big traffic coming in to the city from the 'burbs or wherever because only the ritzy rich can afford downtown.
You need a tube for some heavy people lifting in the rush hours and it's either got to go extremely low to go under all the stuff down there already or up in the air. That should change as the worker bee jobs go to robots. All those back office / call center jobs should poof. Maybe that rush hour traffic won't be such a problem but then you have a different one in what becomes of all those people.
I wrote another bit on trying to make the Rock City do more than smell good.
Uber can handle heavy lifting from suburbs bringing 6-8 per trip routed correctly would not increase travel time much at all.
So a 6 to 8 fold reduction in the number of vehicles and 100% more lanes. Couple that with staggered start times and the infrastructure looks useable for many years.
But it will be crumbking down by b the time those ideas could be implemented
I'm not so confident about that heavy lifting when there are subways and grid-locked traffic jams which tell me it's one seriously heavy load.
I also think it's fantasy to think the number of vehicles will reduce since populations keep going up whether manufactured internally or imported from somewhere else. Furthermore, the Big Dig is the case study in how long it takes for a serious crack at urban infrastructure and it's decades. That's one of the biggest drives behind the Rock City ... when it will take that long anyway, why not build something which kicks ass on many problems at once.
As said before the Big Dig is exactly why Rock City is not viable.
From my view, it's exactly why changing the existing infrastructure is not practical. Ha!
I've got a bit of a shift in the practicality of the Rock City since it can't be built to completion before anyone goes into it. The build process will take so long it has to continue while people move into it. That will take some tactical consideration but it doesn't change the overall outcome.
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