Given some form of 'cheap' FTL travel what would be worth trading over instellar distances? Between Human and Alien worlds? Between Earth and human colonies/settlements? What books give good/plausible examples of interstellar trade?
On Thu, 3 Jul 2008 06:54:47 -0700 (PDT), Space Cadet <kaw...@gmail.com> wrote: >Given some form of 'cheap' FTL travel what would be worth trading over >instellar distances? >Between Human and Alien worlds? >Between Earth and human colonies/settlements?
Information. News. Gossip.
Unless something's seriously whacky about the isotropic properties of spacetime, there shouldn't really be any _material_ substances worth trading over those distances. (Or unless the FTL is _really_, like staggeringly, cheap.) Possible counterexamples are things like thionite or the transuranics from ... not Anderson's Satan's World, that was a rogue planet, but the one [YASID] where a supernova had stripped off everything atmospheric from a massive gas giant, leaving a metal core like a ball-bearing coated with elements plated over its surface that only came into being _during_ supernovas ... well, you see what I mean.
But people being people, they'll want to hear what's going on amongst the royalty and stars of other systems, and scientific (and religious, and philosophical, and engineering, etc.) development from other worlds that Simply Hasn't Been Done/Thought Of Here will be immensely valuable too.
Dave -- \/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK> http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.
> On Thu, 3 Jul 2008 06:54:47 -0700 (PDT), Space Cadet <kaw...@gmail.com> wrote: > >Given some form of 'cheap' FTL travel what would be worth trading over > >instellar distances? > >Between Human and Alien worlds? > >Between Earth and human colonies/settlements?
> Information. News. Gossip.
> Unless something's seriously whacky about the isotropic properties of > spacetime, there shouldn't really be any _material_ substances worth > trading over those distances. (Or unless the FTL is _really_, like > staggeringly, cheap.) Possible counterexamples are things like thionite > or the transuranics from ... not Anderson's Satan's World, that was a rogue > planet, but the one [YASID] where a supernova had stripped off everything > atmospheric from a massive gas giant, leaving a metal core like a ball-bearing > coated with elements plated over its surface that only came into being _during_ > supernovas ... well, you see what I mean.
The planet was Mirkheim. It featured in the novel _Mirkheim_ but first appeared in the short story "Lodestar".
> But people being people, they'll want to hear what's going on amongst the > royalty and stars of other systems, and scientific (and religious, and > philosophical, and engineering, etc.) development from other worlds that > Simply Hasn't Been Done/Thought Of Here will be immensely valuable too.
There are some objects for which people are willing to pay far more than than their intrinsic worth - works of art, for example. Perhaps particular vintages of wine that some people are willing to buy purely for the snob value: "Oh, I do insist that you try the Tau-Ceti Chardonnay - I know that it is expensive, but it is *so* much better than the molecular reconstituted wines".
In article <slrng6pnr5.n84....@gatekeeper.vic.com>, d...@gatekeeper.vic.com says...
> But people being people, they'll want to hear what's going on amongst the > royalty and stars of other systems, and scientific (and religious, and > philosophical, and engineering, etc.) development from other worlds that > Simply Hasn't Been Done/Thought Of Here will be immensely valuable too.
> Dave
And not to forget, mind-bending substances. And chocolate chip cookies, which have previously never been heard of on Arcturus IX.
-P.
-- ========================================= firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com
> In article <slrng6pnr5.n84....@gatekeeper.vic.com>, > d...@gatekeeper.vic.com says...
>> But people being people, they'll want to hear what's going on amongst >> the royalty and stars of other systems, and scientific (and >> religious, and philosophical, and engineering, etc.) development from >> other worlds that Simply Hasn't Been Done/Thought Of Here will be >> immensely valuable too.
>> Dave
> And not to forget, mind-bending substances. And chocolate chip > cookies, which have previously never been heard of on Arcturus > IX.
In message <slrng6pnr5.n84....@gatekeeper.vic.com>, David DeLaney <d...@gatekeeper.vic.com> writes
>not Anderson's Satan's World, that was a rogue planet, but the one >[YASID] where a supernova had stripped off everything atmospheric from >a massive gas giant, leaving a metal core like a ball-bearing coated >with elements plated over its surface that only came into being >_during_ supernovas ... well, you see what I mean.
The planet was Mirkheim. The story, IIRC, is "Lodestar", collection in "The Earth Book of Stormgate" and "The John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology". -- Stewart Robert Hinsley
> On Thu, 3 Jul 2008 06:54:47 -0700 (PDT), Space Cadet <kaw...@gmail.com> wrote: > >Given some form of 'cheap' FTL travel what would be worth trading over > >instellar distances? > >Between Human and Alien worlds? > >Between Earth and human colonies/settlements?
> Information. News. Gossip.
> Unless something's seriously whacky about the isotropic properties of > spacetime, there shouldn't really be any _material_ substances worth > trading over those distances. (Or unless the FTL is _really_, like > staggeringly, cheap.) Possible counterexamples are things like thionite > or the transuranics from ... not Anderson's Satan's World, that was a rogue > planet, but the one [YASID] where a supernova had stripped off everything > atmospheric from a massive gas giant, leaving a metal core like a ball-bearing > coated with elements plated over its surface that only came into being _during_ > supernovas ... well, you see what I mean.
> But people being people, they'll want to hear what's going on amongst the > royalty and stars of other systems, and scientific (and religious, and > philosophical, and engineering, etc.) development from other worlds that > Simply Hasn't Been Done/Thought Of Here will be immensely valuable too.
I'd add entertainment to the list of low mass high value things that could be traded.
Electronics (at least the advanced constituent parts like CPUs) may also be something of high value enough to transport interstellar.
If the planetary market is too small to support a local arm of whatever corporation has some advanced chips to sell, or the local industry is too crude to make the tools that the company needs to make the tools to make the tools to make the product, then transporting it in may be necessary.
Also, if the local industry is advanced enough to manufacture the stuff locally the company may be afraid of not getting the royalties if they just hand over the blueprints. I guess that part would depend on the network of laws and enforcement present.
The whole premise rests on whether computing is still advancing more or less exponentially during your timeline or if it has leveled off. If it has leveled off then advanced computer parts become more like light bulbs. Anyone can make them and little or no royalties go back to the inventor.
On Jul 3, 6:54 am, Space Cadet <kaw...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Given some form of 'cheap' FTL travel what would be worth trading over > instellar distances? > Between Human and Alien worlds? > Between Earth and human colonies/settlements? > What books give good/plausible examples of interstellar trade?
How cheap? If I can spend $1,000,000.00 to open a wormhole, and I put one mouth near Bakersfield, CA just off of I-5 and the other on WxT^^pptf'G in the Andromeda galaxy, then after that it just costs diesel fuel to haul wheat, steel girders, and bobble-head dolls from earth to WxT^^pptf'G which is certainly worth doing if the inhabitants of WxT^^pptf'G have anything to trade in return.
In rec.arts.sf.science Luke Campbell <lwc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 3, 6:54 am, Space Cadet <kaw...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Given some form of 'cheap' FTL travel what would be worth trading over >> instellar distances? >> Between Human and Alien worlds? >> Between Earth and human colonies/settlements? >> What books give good/plausible examples of interstellar trade?
> How cheap? If I can spend $1,000,000.00 to open a wormhole, and I put > one mouth near Bakersfield, CA just off of I-5 and the other on > WxT^^pptf'G in the Andromeda galaxy, then after that it just costs > diesel fuel to haul wheat, steel girders, and bobble-head dolls from > earth to WxT^^pptf'G which is certainly worth doing if the inhabitants > of WxT^^pptf'G have anything to trade in return.
You might want to find another spot for the Earth terminus. I'm not sure if California has any environmental laws pertaining to wormholes, but I'll bet you that they will obtain them in a great hurry once you start operating.
-- Mike Ash Radio Free Earth Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon
> Unless something's seriously whacky about the isotropic properties of > spacetime, there shouldn't really be any _material_ substances worth > trading over those distances.
On Jul 3, 12:57 pm, Michael Ash <m...@mikeash.com> wrote:
> In rec.arts.sf.science Luke Campbell <lwc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > How cheap? If I can spend $1,000,000.00 to open a wormhole, and I put > > one mouth near Bakersfield, CA just off of I-5 and the other on > > WxT^^pptf'G in the Andromeda galaxy, then after that it just costs > > diesel fuel to haul wheat, steel girders, and bobble-head dolls from > > earth to WxT^^pptf'G which is certainly worth doing if the inhabitants > > of WxT^^pptf'G have anything to trade in return.
> You might want to find another spot for the Earth terminus. I'm not sure > if California has any environmental laws pertaining to wormholes, but I'll > bet you that they will obtain them in a great hurry once you start > operating.
After being told that the worst case scenario is that Bakersfield becomes a smoking crater of fused silica, the rest of California will be quite happy to leave the wormhole mouth there. The rest of the nation, however, will then begin agitating to locate the wormhole in downtown Los Angeles.
> In article <slrng6pnr5.n84....@gatekeeper.vic.com>, > d...@gatekeeper.vic.com says...
>> But people being people, they'll want to hear what's going on amongst the >> royalty and stars of other systems, and scientific (and religious, and >> philosophical, and engin
