2012 got me no Hugo nomination in 2013

[james_davis_nicoll]

But you know what it did get me? From Rapture of the Nerds:

It’s called a Nicoll-Dyson beam—a laser weapon powered by a star—and just one of them is capable of evaporating an Earth-sized planet a thousand light-years away in half an hour flat.

So there's that. (it takes a week to evaporate an Earth-sized world with the combined power of a Sun-like star, boo hiss, but to make up for it the range is more like one million light-years)

Comments

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

You should start patenting these things.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I think you have to be able to actually built one to patent it.

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

Not in the US. (PTO stopped requiring models a long time ago. And there's no requirement that you actually implement the method that is being patented.)

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

But you have to describe it in such a way that one would be capable of building it. Enablement requirement. Best Mode is a dead letter, granted.

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

Building a Nicoll-Dyson laser is quite possible, if one has the necessary technology level.

James doesn't have to describe that. He only has to describe the laser, and some applications for it.

The fact that, due to matters of scale, it's not possible right now, or for the foreseeable future, is not likely to matter to the USPTO, which typically has a grant-first-ask-questions-only-during-lawsuits policy.

[gohover.livejournal.com]

The nature of a Dyson Swarm means that you can a few components now, and add more later. What is the bare minimum needed to create the smallest weakest Nicoll-Dyson laser imaginable?

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

Two, I'd suppose. You can't really demonstrate the whole 'phased array' thing with only one unit.

[stevendj.livejournal.com]

Remember Arthur Clarke's regret at not patenting geosynchronous communications satellites; he didn't think they'd be able to put one up before the patent would have expired, and was wrong.

[tceisele.livejournal.com]

All things considered, I kind of hope that nobody will get around to building a Nicoll-Dyson laser until long after any hypothetical patent on it will have expired.

Patent

[hot-soup.livejournal.com]

Odd, so he just wanted to save himself the cost of filing? Or was he going to keep it secret as long as possible, i.e. until just before the technology was viable, and then file the patent?

Hmm apparently at the end of his life, he was quoted as saying 'I'm often asked why I didn't try to patent the idea of communications satellites. My answer is always, "A patent is really a license to be sued" ' which I suppose is true but maybe slightly sour grapes.

[soon_lee]

Been reading it, and just got to that bit.

[gohover.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there are imaging applications for a more gentle beam? LIDAR?

See also:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.0825

When I saw this paper, the Nicoll-Dyson beam came to mind, even though the scale, though vast, is much smaller.

Interstellar radar is a potential intermediate step between passive observation of exoplanets and interstellar exploratory missions. Compared to passive observation, it has the traditional advantages of radar astronomy. It can measure surface characteristics, determine spin rates and axes, provide extremely accurate ranges, construct maps of planets, distinguish liquid from solid surfaces, find rings and moons, and penetrate clouds. It can do this even for planets close to the parent star. Compared to interstellar travel or probes, it also offers significant advantages. The technology required to build such a radar already exists, radar can return results within a human lifetime, and a single facility can investigate thousands of planetary systems. The cost, although high, is within the reach of Earth's economy, so it is cheaper as well.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

Didn't Robert Reed have a short story recently involving an interstellar lidar? Spoiler: the results were not happy,

[gohover.livejournal.com]

Can you help me find the story? I've tried what I think are the most obvious key words for a google search with no luck. If you don't have a reference, can you suggest any good search terms? Thanks!

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it was Robert Reed. I've just looked at his list of short stories and I can't find it. I believe it was in Asimov's, or perhaps F&SF.

The plot (MAJOR SPOILERS)


was that the universe is a simulation that only simulated in detail the parts that needed it (around Earth). The lidar pulse reached Alpha Centauri and was not reflected by the planet that was known to be there, because the simulation didn't keep up. This eventually crashed the simulation (and the universe) entirely.

[(Anonymous)]

"Touching Centauri" by Baxter, I think http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_Space_(story_collection)

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

What would be its effect on an existing civilization?

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

"Reach out and touch someone."

But the arXiv paper describes an interstellar radar whose Earth intensity is 10% of insolation over its ground source, 10,000 km2? "Not immediately destructive to airplanes or birds." The paper fails to mention dispersion that I see but certainly there will be some. So probably a minor annoyance at most.

Also, cost $20 trillion. I'm impressed to find a case where imaging looks more expensive than sending an interstellar probe, or even several probes. Still faster, though.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

If you've got reason to need a million light year range, why would you use a Sun-like star? Some type O's would do for most routine galactic-imperial purposes, but the heavy beam installations would be near stars that can be easily stimulated to nova or supernova.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Wow, you can hold the beam together a lot better even than Kimball Kinnison could; the ability to direct it to a planet of some other star was just a gleam in the eye of Laverne Thorndyke.