What would happen in these two fictional scenarios?

[Gingerbread Demon]

First off no spoilers.

This isn't tied to any fiction (that I know of) but I was just musing on this in my head and wondered what others could say to add to this.

I'm not sure how to build these two either so I'll just write down my thoughts.

Scenario 1 The sun for whatever reason starts to go darker and eventually go out.
Yes I know it's very fanciful and not ever likely to happen but say we had indications of this and it would take a while to happen, so what do we do here on Earth to prepare ourselves and keep our civilization going?

What steps would we take to ensure life on our planet continues?

Scenario 2. The Sun for whatever reason heats up and expands, or explodes.
Again what do we do in this kind of situation to ensure that humanity and nature survive in some form or another?

 

[psCargile]

Become machines.

 

[Jayson1]

I always wondered if we could someday move into domed cities to survive a crisis like that? With no sun though would that mean it would be impossible to rain? How would our water supply hold up?

With no sun I would imagine it would get really cold on earth and does that mean the cold would get so bad that it would destroy any domed city because the materials needed to build them wouldn't hold up?

If not that how about a space station like on "Earth 2?" Once again I wonder about the water.

Jason

 

[Mike Farley]

Fleeing the from Solar tyranny, the last Battlestar--Galactica, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest--a shining planet called Kobal.

 

[psCargile]

The solar system is full of water. Ice is in abundance out past Mars.

 

[Jayson1]

The solar system is full of water. Ice is in abundance out past Mars.

If the sun went out though would we have time to find away to get people to mars in time? Also once you get there I imagine you would have to build cities and find away to get at the water. Would it be quicker to just try and build domes cities here? Or maybe temporary domed cities until we are ready to move to Mars?

Jason

 

[psCargile]

Out past Mars. As in beyond Mars.

It should not have to be stated that if the sun violated physics and suddenly quit fusion, or accelerated to the red giant phase, with current technology, we would all die. Any assumption of our survival must therefore conclude this magical event happens when we have incredible engineering acumen to build environmental dooms and travel at least as far as the outer reaches of the Kupier Belt.

No domes. Go underground. If the core hasn't cooled, you got your heat right there.

 

[Nyotarules]

What steps to take? None go out with a ban, let off those nuclear weapons just to prove they were not a waste of billions of money that should be spent on education, housing, healthcare etc...

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

OK I was thinking about the two scenarios and let's handwave physics for a bit and assume that in both cases we have a 20 year window to act.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

20 years? We all die. All the money spent on education, housing, healthcare, etc. etc. turns out to have been wasted anyway. Both scenarios render the whole solar system uninhabitable, we don't have FTL, so there's no escape.

Okay, maybe a massive crash fusion program saves a few people in underground hovels for a little while, but then comes the Deuterium War.

 

[Kor]

Both scenarios: There isn't anything anyone can do about it, so everybody just panics and runs around like chickens with their heads cut off, smashing stuff to bits and looting and pillaging and starting fires.

Kor

 

[psCargile]

I will die of alcohol poisoning in one last hurrah.

 

[Jayson1]

Could machine life survive this kind of disaster? What about if we worked on ways download human consciousness into a machine so humanity can still exist just in a different form?

Jason

 

[Matthew Raymond]

1) If the Sun grows dimmer, set up cloud cities in the atmosphere of Venus or put domes on Mercury. We could probably save a few thousand people that way. The rest of us would either create underground habitats near the Earth's mantle, or we'd die.

2) If the Sun expands to a red giant, we're screwed, because we'd basically need to be beyond Jupiter to survive. Maybe set up a colony on Titan?

 

[JD]

Could machine life survive this kind of disaster? What about if we worked on ways download human consciousness into a machine so humanity can still exist just in a different form?

Jason

It would probably depend on what their power source is.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

It would probably depend on what their power source is.

Hmmmmmmm

 

[Push The Button]

The real question is, are we worth saving?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

The real question is, are we worth saving?

Well I say we are. As a species we're pretty cool.

 

[Nyotarules]

Well I say we are. As a species we're pretty cool.

Yeah we are one of the few species that need no excuse to kill each other and treat each other like shit.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

Yeah we are one of the few species that need no excuse to kill each other and treat each other like shit.

That behavior hardly makes us unique as a species. Just watch a dog trying to pass a cat on a flight of stairs and you'll understand that.