The Guardian has an opinion piece by Julia Ebner on how conspiracy theories undermine democracy. She mainly focus on the role of non-transparent algorithms used by platforms like YouTube in spreading conspiracy theories. Though we agree with her on that those algorithms should be transparent and the conspiracy theories are harmful to society, we are missing a fundamental piece. Continue reading On conspiracies
All posts by Mordanicus
Patent reform
Though we do not oppose the concept of patents as such, we believe that there are several issues with the current system that needs to be addressed. The three main issues with patents in modern society are:
- Patents on non-inventions
- Patent trolling
- Patents on inventions resulting from publicly funded research
Recommended reading
Though this article from The Guardian is from last year, I would still recommend you to read the following:
How the aristocracy preserved their power
In the UK a small portion of the population holds a majority of all land in the nation and this allows the elite to continue its privileged position in society.
Health policy II
Previously we argued that space settlements should invest in preventive medicine in order to reduce healthcare expenses. We discussed several causes of diseases and measures to deal with them. Here we will turn to another important cause of preventable diseases: alcohol. Continue reading Health policy II
Pecunia non olet
Public urination is generally considered as a bad thing, in particular in built-up areas. An effective method to reduce public urination is through opening public toilets. Though these are a public service, public toilets are usually for-pay services. Continue reading Pecunia non olet
Spacers and robots #2
At Geek.com there is an interesting article about a robot developed by Japanese scientists that could replace construction workers. As pointed out in the article the main motivation behind this HRP-5P is to deal with the country’s aging and declining population.
There are several reasons why this kind of robots are of great importance for space settlements. Building space habitats, mining of resources and so on, will require a lot of work. Through the use of robots more labor will be available and this will allow for much faster space development – especially if such robots can be assembled in space, which will further reduce launch costs.
Also, according to another article on Geek.com, a long-term exposure to cosmic radiation could lead to digestive problems. Robots do not suffer from radiation the same way as humans do, hence they could start building free space habitats while science works to devise methods to protect humans against cosmic rays.
Boiled eggs
Apparently there is a new method to boil eggs, called egglettes, which is shown in the video below:
Food safety stars
A couple of years ago there had been some controversy in the Netherlands about the fact that the country’s food safety board (NVWA) did not disclose the results of its inspection of food vendors such as restaurants. Business who did violate food safety regulation did get fined but this fact was not made public. Since then the law has been changed to allow disclosure of inspection reports. Continue reading Food safety stars
Automated waste collection and separation
Waste management is an important issue for any community and space settlements will not be different. For several reasons, such are pollution and traffic congestion, running garbage trucks through the streets is a bad idea. So space habitat designers should consider alternatives. One interesting concept is illustrated in the video below:
Cargo transport
A common issue in modern cities is traffic congestion and air pollution caused by big trucks to deliver supplies to shops and other businesses. For orbital space settlements we propose to replace this “traditional” method of cargo delivery with something else. Continue reading Cargo transport
