Absolutely amazing picture
December 2nd, 2006
I found this picture via Digg. It's now my new desktop picture (replacing the very first image taken on the surface of Mars by Viking I). I find the picture incredibly cool, and can't help but try and analyze what it represents.
From the way the horizon curves upward, and the generally tubular view, the city is clearly built on the inside surface of a toroid structure. The only reason that could possibly make sense is if it were built in space, either as some sort of free-floating space station, or some sort of habitation ring attached to a ship of some kind, and spun to create artificial gravity. It could, I suppose, also be some sort of variation on a Dyson shell, as in Larry Niven's Ringworld.
The tube-looking thing running along the ceiling, then, would most likely be some sort of high speed transportation system that takes advantage of the lower gravity that exists closer to the axis of rotation. Although that then begs the question of why they bothered to have boats in the river. Perhaps it's not meant for every day transportation, but is instead intended as a sort of 'airport shuttle' to take people to other parts of the ship or to an unspun spacecraft docking area.
Very cool. There's so much detail in this picture I'm sure I'll come up with more, but for right now, it's way too early on a Saturday morning to be putting this much thought into a picture...
Alison wrote:
on Sunday, December 3rd 2006 at 12:41 p.m.
Makes me think more of Clark's Rama than Ringworld, since Ringworld actually circles a sun, so you would be able to see sky in it. But it is a very cool pic.
Josh wrote:
on Sunday, December 3rd 2006 at 1:10 p.m.
Yeah, I thought of that too. But Rama was one huge cylinder, so you could see all the way across, rather than being ring-like.
Renata Dumitrascu wrote:
on Wednesday, December 13th 2006 at 5:03 p.m.
yes, it's quite splendid