Most geekier people wouldn't mind living underground in a maze of tunnels, so long as they had power, air, food, and water. After all, electric light is enough to see by, fresh air need not come blown in from a meadow, so long as it's carbon dioxide level is below 300 ppm and it has at least 18% oxygen. And so long as the gadgets function, entertainment can be had, and phones and digital communication fulfills social needs.
If we were to build a deep-underground apartment complex along those lines, we would gain two useful things out of it. One, it's good practice for space-based works. Two, in crowded areas, this allows more people to fit in less space. (The geeks won't mind if more nature-oriented people live over them.)
It's good practice for space based works because ironically for outer space, space is unlimited, but livable space is incredibly scarce and expensive, so one must keep systems in as efficient a space as possible. Two, life support. Humans don't by default live deep underground, and so elaborate systems are needed to keep them going. At the minimum, pumping the carbon dioxide back to the surface, and the oxygen back into the underground, fresh water in, waste water out, and electricity that arrives in lines that can't merely be walked to. (So you've got to do them right the FIRST time.)
No comments:
Post a Comment