Worldcon: Wednesday
16 Aug 2017 21:16![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
extrapenguinI arrived, registration was painless enough, and then I went to do panels. They had seriously underestimated the amount of people attending on Wednesday, so everything was packed, and I didn't fit into many panels. Have my mostly unedited notes from last week.
12: Fantasies of Free Movement (Niall Harrison, Nicholas Whyte, Roseanne Rabinowitz, Teresa Romero, John-Henri Holmberg)
"Science fiction has always been about free movement unimpeded by silly things like the speed of light." –John-Henri Holmberg.
This panel was mostly about Exit West, rather than freedom of movement in general. Lots of questions about what would the world look like if there was completely free movement, what's the timescale of getting used to immigrants, etc.
Borders & passports are a result of WW1. Before, freedom of movement was assumed.
Asimov's "Mother Earth" mentioned – spacer colonies restrict immigration from Earth.
The perspective of those who leave vs those who stay is oft that of freedom vs disintegration. "If those who can leave, do, what does that say of those whoreturn remain?" –Nicholas Whyte Word fail corrected 17.8.
Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix was mentioned as a future of freedom to do, well, anything, and Shapers and Mechanists merely two means of doing it. (As a side note, I think a lot of things would work well and interestingly as Schismatrix AUs.)
In a practical sense, not many works deal with free movement. It's mostly about exploring the known world (rather than the unknown, as in sci-fi).
Free movement = "The Odyssey minus engineering".
SF: understanding what's happening and how it could be changed.
Free movement is assumed in SF – and often connected to the Galactic Empire trope. (See: free movement being default in Europe before WW1, in the Age of Empires.)
Dystopias are oft about a lack or restriction of freedom of movement.
"Breaking out of adolescence" is a common metaphor.
Some book suggestions: Downbelow Station (Cherryh), A Million Open Doors, Lady of Mazes, Rainbow's End.
13-15: Next room full, oh well, go buy stuff. Books!
15: Opening Ceremonies
I liked the whole "cycle of seasons" theme thing. The dance troupe was ... well, obviously amateur; their performance suffered a bit from their very indistinct hands. The singing was very Finnish: drinking songs and a Christmas song about "everything is fucking terrible and saaad; have fun jolly elves!"
16-17: Queue.
17: Destroying the Universe with Vacuum Bubbles (Arttu Rajantie)
Higgs boson exists -> vacuum instability (quantum tunneling)
Quantum tunneling still conserves energy
Higgs field has a nonzero value at vacuum! (the energy vs the field strength is a bit U-shaped, and our current vacuum is at the bottom of the U – which is not at zero energy)
We've currently done experiments on the energy range up to 10⁴ GeV, and quantum gravity should step in at 10¹⁸ GeV (where the standard model breaks down, because it doesn't incorporate gravity, and that's when gravity becomes important), but how about the 10⁹ GeV range? Is there new physics in the gap?
(The strength between Higgs bosons becomes attractive at 10⁹ GeV, so maybe)
Vacuum instability happens if the plot of energy of field vs field strength is more V\-shaped, with there being a point on the other side of the "hill" that has the same energy as the current vacuum value – and the slope beyond continues to minus infinity. The equivalent point is probably around 10¹⁰ GeV field strength.
The top quark's mass somehow affects this equivalent point's field strength and thus the lifetime of the Universe (since the smaller the hill, the quicker the instability will happen).
If a Higgs boson tunnels to the other side of the hill, then it'll suddenly be on a slope downwards into a less energetic position and go there immediately. The energy of this vacuum will be negative, which means outward pressure, which means it grows. Also, the infinite amount of energy generated will go to creating new surface. Inside, space collapses into a singularity.
We can also accelerate this process by overcoming the potential barrier in another way. After all, "if we throw a cat over the wall, it doesn't have to tunnel". (Accelerators don't destroy the universe because the way they're built, even if a vacuum bubble were formed, it'd be so small that surface tension would get the better of it.) Gram-scale black holes are one option, since the spacetime around them is so curved that the equations change so that tunneling is faster.
Alternatively, the energy vs field strength diagram might be more W-shaped, with the second valley at 0 GeV rather than the current vacuum's 246 GeV. This is called "zero-point energy", and could be used as a power source.
18-21: Eat, then queue.
21: Red Mars/Green Mars (Samuel Penn, Laurel Anne Hill, Sheyna "The Martian" Gifford)
"Assuming you stay awake at night thinking about Mars colonization" –Samuel Penn
There exists a bacterium that creates limestone when exposed to water. On Earth, it's used for self-healing concrete. Let's not bring it to any Martian aquifers.
How to lay down/enforce interplanetary law? (The current Outer Space Treaty is toothless, and does not define the nebulous concept of "harm", so we'd perhaps need a new one, too.)
Mars will live by its own law – comms lag for a round trip is 40 min, and it's essentially a 24/7 survival situation.
Life on Earth: energy + water
"We came, we saw, and we drank the locals" –Sheyna Gifford
How to sterilize vs unknown/undetectable microbes? Potential colonization of Earth by Martians
For a colony, a min of 10k people are required for enough genetic diversity.
Right to colonize Mars = right to leave Earth. (If we can't go to Mars because we might destroy the local wildlife, well, where can we go?)
Humans are inable of keeping trash to themselves/sealing themselves off from the environment. (Seals leak. Also, Mars is a survival situation, and soon enough, someone will be in trouble most easily solved by contaminating Mars.)
Martians will declare independence from Earth, because 40min round lag and also how's Earth supposed to enforce law again
Gain appreciation of Earth via Mars, then terraform Earth?
"Is there life on Mars" is a Heisenberg problem: to know, we must potentially pollute the planet with Earth microbes.
Mars boxes (boxes with radiation, soil, etc exactly like on Mars) are a thing for sadistic microbiologists
A critical distribution of people (of different sorts) is required for maintaining standard behavior
Environmental impact assessment for landing on Mars? :P
22 Chat with Sheyna Gifford and a few others, then go zplat.
12: Fantasies of Free Movement (Niall Harrison, Nicholas Whyte, Roseanne Rabinowitz, Teresa Romero, John-Henri Holmberg)
"Science fiction has always been about free movement unimpeded by silly things like the speed of light." –John-Henri Holmberg.
This panel was mostly about Exit West, rather than freedom of movement in general. Lots of questions about what would the world look like if there was completely free movement, what's the timescale of getting used to immigrants, etc.
Borders & passports are a result of WW1. Before, freedom of movement was assumed.
Asimov's "Mother Earth" mentioned – spacer colonies restrict immigration from Earth.
The perspective of those who leave vs those who stay is oft that of freedom vs disintegration. "If those who can leave, do, what does that say of those who
Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix was mentioned as a future of freedom to do, well, anything, and Shapers and Mechanists merely two means of doing it. (As a side note, I think a lot of things would work well and interestingly as Schismatrix AUs.)
In a practical sense, not many works deal with free movement. It's mostly about exploring the known world (rather than the unknown, as in sci-fi).
Free movement = "The Odyssey minus engineering".
SF: understanding what's happening and how it could be changed.
Free movement is assumed in SF – and often connected to the Galactic Empire trope. (See: free movement being default in Europe before WW1, in the Age of Empires.)
Dystopias are oft about a lack or restriction of freedom of movement.
"Breaking out of adolescence" is a common metaphor.
Some book suggestions: Downbelow Station (Cherryh), A Million Open Doors, Lady of Mazes, Rainbow's End.
13-15: Next room full, oh well, go buy stuff. Books!
15: Opening Ceremonies
I liked the whole "cycle of seasons" theme thing. The dance troupe was ... well, obviously amateur; their performance suffered a bit from their very indistinct hands. The singing was very Finnish: drinking songs and a Christmas song about "everything is fucking terrible and saaad; have fun jolly elves!"
16-17: Queue.
17: Destroying the Universe with Vacuum Bubbles (Arttu Rajantie)
Higgs boson exists -> vacuum instability (quantum tunneling)
Quantum tunneling still conserves energy
Higgs field has a nonzero value at vacuum! (the energy vs the field strength is a bit U-shaped, and our current vacuum is at the bottom of the U – which is not at zero energy)
We've currently done experiments on the energy range up to 10⁴ GeV, and quantum gravity should step in at 10¹⁸ GeV (where the standard model breaks down, because it doesn't incorporate gravity, and that's when gravity becomes important), but how about the 10⁹ GeV range? Is there new physics in the gap?
(The strength between Higgs bosons becomes attractive at 10⁹ GeV, so maybe)
Vacuum instability happens if the plot of energy of field vs field strength is more V\-shaped, with there being a point on the other side of the "hill" that has the same energy as the current vacuum value – and the slope beyond continues to minus infinity. The equivalent point is probably around 10¹⁰ GeV field strength.
The top quark's mass somehow affects this equivalent point's field strength and thus the lifetime of the Universe (since the smaller the hill, the quicker the instability will happen).
If a Higgs boson tunnels to the other side of the hill, then it'll suddenly be on a slope downwards into a less energetic position and go there immediately. The energy of this vacuum will be negative, which means outward pressure, which means it grows. Also, the infinite amount of energy generated will go to creating new surface. Inside, space collapses into a singularity.
We can also accelerate this process by overcoming the potential barrier in another way. After all, "if we throw a cat over the wall, it doesn't have to tunnel". (Accelerators don't destroy the universe because the way they're built, even if a vacuum bubble were formed, it'd be so small that surface tension would get the better of it.) Gram-scale black holes are one option, since the spacetime around them is so curved that the equations change so that tunneling is faster.
Alternatively, the energy vs field strength diagram might be more W-shaped, with the second valley at 0 GeV rather than the current vacuum's 246 GeV. This is called "zero-point energy", and could be used as a power source.
18-21: Eat, then queue.
21: Red Mars/Green Mars (Samuel Penn, Laurel Anne Hill, Sheyna "The Martian" Gifford)
"Assuming you stay awake at night thinking about Mars colonization" –Samuel Penn
There exists a bacterium that creates limestone when exposed to water. On Earth, it's used for self-healing concrete. Let's not bring it to any Martian aquifers.
How to lay down/enforce interplanetary law? (The current Outer Space Treaty is toothless, and does not define the nebulous concept of "harm", so we'd perhaps need a new one, too.)
Mars will live by its own law – comms lag for a round trip is 40 min, and it's essentially a 24/7 survival situation.
Life on Earth: energy + water
"We came, we saw, and we drank the locals" –Sheyna Gifford
How to sterilize vs unknown/undetectable microbes? Potential colonization of Earth by Martians
For a colony, a min of 10k people are required for enough genetic diversity.
Right to colonize Mars = right to leave Earth. (If we can't go to Mars because we might destroy the local wildlife, well, where can we go?)
Humans are inable of keeping trash to themselves/sealing themselves off from the environment. (Seals leak. Also, Mars is a survival situation, and soon enough, someone will be in trouble most easily solved by contaminating Mars.)
Martians will declare independence from Earth, because 40min round lag and also how's Earth supposed to enforce law again
Gain appreciation of Earth via Mars, then terraform Earth?
"Is there life on Mars" is a Heisenberg problem: to know, we must potentially pollute the planet with Earth microbes.
Mars boxes (boxes with radiation, soil, etc exactly like on Mars) are a thing for sadistic microbiologists
A critical distribution of people (of different sorts) is required for maintaining standard behavior
Environmental impact assessment for landing on Mars? :P
22 Chat with Sheyna Gifford and a few others, then go zplat.