this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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Today I Learned

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A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure that encompasses a star and captures a large percentage of its power output. The concept is a thought experiment that attempts to imagine how a spacefaring civilization would meet its energy requirements once those requirements exceed what can be generated from the home planet's resources alone. Because only a tiny fraction of a star's energy emissions reaches the surface of any orbiting planet, building structures encircling a star would enable a civilization to harvest far more energy.

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[–] johsny@lemmy.world 116 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They only work during the day though.

[–] Adori@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

This is what they said about solar panels too, maybe it'll work out.

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[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 63 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)
[–] murmelade@lemmy.ml 23 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I pirated this to check it out and enjoyed it so much that I bought it even though it's in Early Access and that's very very rare for me. I still haven't played it more though as I'm still waiting for it to come out of EA, looking very much forward to play it again.

[–] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 weeks ago

I'm the same lol. I bought several books in print after pirating the ebooks.

[–] DanVctr@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Same, purchased after pirating. You'll need cheats to convert your pirated save to legit if you want achievements, however.

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

$20 is the perfect price IMO

edit: pirating this game is kinda funny to me, its a Chinese Dev. team so who knows if there are assets in the game that are not legit. I will probably buy it but I wouldn't shame anyone who did find another way to get it without purchasing it

It's a i think 5man dev team and they've poured their souls into it, I think they deserve the money

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[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

this looks like it will suck 500 hours out of my life the moment i press play

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

i cant. tell me if you find a way to escape. please.

[–] frezik@midwest.social 4 points 2 weeks ago

That's correct.

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[–] Kyoyeou@slrpnk.net 5 points 3 weeks ago

Damn that looks cool

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 42 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Be carful with those. You may block the light of constellation aliens use and really piss then off.

[–] rockerface@lemm.ee 24 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Eh, they won't find out until a few centuries later anyway

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 8 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Well unless they are monitoring or are relatively close. The issue was they got annoyed cause their decedendants won't see their "holy constellation". Something like a north star to them I guess. So anyway I started a purification campaign In response.

[–] htrayl@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

...no, they won't know for a few hundred years due to the actual speed of light and vast distances of space.

[–] neatobuilds@lemmy.today 8 points 2 weeks ago

Unless they have some fancy alien sensor with quantum entangled particles so they get an alert instantly

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 4 points 2 weeks ago

You're assuming they are not part of the deep state already!

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[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

"People of Earth, I am Lrrr of the planet Omicron Persei 8."

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[–] original_reader@lemm.ee 25 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

You need to watch more Star Trek, friend.

Specifically "The Next Generation", Season 6, Episode 4, " Relics".

Thank me later. 😁

[–] OpticalMoose@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 3 weeks ago

Classic episode; one of my favorite

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

With a bottle of green.

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[–] halykthered@lemmy.ml 23 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

A pinnacle of science, a wonder of engineering, that we will never get to see in our lifetimes. Instead, we get to see Taiwan get nuked or something, I don't know. I don't follow the news much, I only know I'm disappointed.

[–] QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

If we could just speed up cryogenics or hibernation technology…

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[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Taiwan is too valuable to nuke. It will be squeezed with a lot of Navy to land attacks, destroying many of the places people live but not the places they work. Then urban warfare will be the rest and it will probably be death of millions.

[–] batcheck@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Came here to say that if you like this concept, Peter Hamilton has a book series called Commonwealth Saga in the science fiction category that is excellent. Lots of pseudoscience from early 2000s in that series.

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[–] M137@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Some TIL posts really surprise you, it's crazy to me that you have never heard about this. Not being degrading or anything like that, it's just surprising.

[–] Ellvix@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Kyoyeou@slrpnk.net 7 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Yeah never heard about it, although I never watched Star Trek personally.

But did you know that we can extract Graphene by heating it up super high so that everything else gets destroyed except graphene?

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Read the bobiverse and you'll come across a topopolis. The pictures on wiki suck so here's one from fiction.

https://kardashev.fandom.com/wiki/Topopolis

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 3 points 2 weeks ago

I didn't know that! You keep sharing the hits! Keep it coming!

[–] frezik@midwest.social 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Eh, there's only one in all of Star Trek, and they forgot about it after one episode. Should have a whole series.

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[–] mipadaitu@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] argh_another_username@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 weeks ago

Wait! The same problem Larry Niven’s Ringworld have also applies to Dyson Spheres? Huh! Saving to read later.

[–] Tuxman@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don’t remember the math, but you lose return on investment after a certain percentage of coverage.

Dyson Grids are the future!!! 😜

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Or DYson Bubbles, which would also "cover" enough "surface" to be viable without needing god knows how many planets' worth of material

[–] Holyginz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I like the idea of a dyson swarm

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[–] Wxnzxn@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago

I've played that Stellaris mod, pretty sweet

[–] endeavor@sopuli.xyz 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Maybe make it a dyson fan since the sphere would only work during the daytime. In polar areas that means half a year without any energy production!

Whereas there is always solar wind.

[–] BigBrainBrett2517@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

wHaT aBoUt wHen iTs NoT WinDy!!??!?!?

[–] LordeMostarda@lemmy.eco.br 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There is also the Matrioshka brain, a hypothetical supercomputer powered by a Dyson sphere

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[–] Internetexplorer@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Kind of looks like an atom

[–] lipilee@feddit.nl 5 points 2 weeks ago

Okay but where does the invisible hand dryer go?

[–] Quadhammer@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Start with a dyson ring or swarm

[–] m0darn@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Is dark matter just Dyson sphered stars?

[–] spicehoarder@lemm.ee 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

My initial reaction: "What? No."

After thinking a little bit: "hmm I guess you could say that..."

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[–] merdaverse@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

It's a pretty cool concept, and I enjoyed building one in Dyson Sphere Program, but I don't really understand how you would transport that amount of energy to where you need it. Are they like mirrors that redirect and focus light to some point?

[–] Geobloke@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago

I guess you would store it in chemicals like oil or create radioactive substances that are optimised for specific energy decay rates

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