SW10/WWW: Powernaut 2024 #1-5: World's Fair!

[Drew Nilium]

On 2/9/24 4:01 AM, Scott Eiler wrote:
> heh, I am for the very first time working on a Powernaut comic series set in the 
> present age!  (The last time I came even close to that, was Powernaut 2011 which 
> I published in 2012.)  We can only dream of living in Power City 2024, but I can 
> still share it.  And this is where new guest stars come in - including that new 
> one in the public domain.
> 
> http://eilertech.com/stories/powernaut/2024.htm

ooooooooh :D Awesome! Worldbuilding! Crunchy details! Space elevators! :D :D :D 
(And a steamboat-piloting mouse! :3)

> I envision this series being published in its home universe, as a pamphlet.  I'm 
> not sure how to explain #5 in that context, but I'll probably figure out later.  
> For now, I've buried it behind one of those authentic boring text essays which 
> schoolchildren of my era will remember from comic books *and* from motivational 
> pamphlets in school.

Heck yeah heck yeah. :D I love in-universe documents

<snip a bunch of individual characters who are cool but I don't have a lot to 
say about>
> As for the architecture... When Power City was founded, it went for a classic 
> look, full of iconic skyscrapers. Those can actually be designed as arcologies, 
> which bring humanity together to receive essential services with much less 
> impact than sprawling suburban architecture. Some suburbs exist up the cliff 
> from us... but I have convinced Powernauts to not live there. We live in and 
> around the Power School grounds, for public safety and for communion with the 
> students.

Very interesting implied stuff here...

> -    Cracking carbon dioxide for energy may sound outlandish. But Ellipsis 
> technology entered open source many years ago, and it's part of our world now. 
> It is based upon the total conversion of matter to energy. Here in Power City, 
> we restrict that to converting excess carbon from the atmosphere into energy. 
> That is more than sufficient to meet our energy needs.

Ahhhhh, okay. I was thinking "wait, does that make sense?" but that kind of 
technology lets you handwave it.

> -    Hydroelectric power is a secondary source for us now. We're discussing 
> demolition of the Power City dam, so as not to impede the salmon migrations... 
> but we find, a well-crafted fish ladder can get around that obstacle. Besides, 
> there's quite a demand for river navigation which the dam (and its locks) makes 
> possible.

Oooooh, neat. :D

> -    We are still exploring the full power that can be drawn from the Earth's 
> magnetic field. But in the past, that has been enough to propel a small 
> interstellar spacecraft to Earth orbit. I was part of its crew in 2014.

Continuity! \o/

> People are offering incredible designs for the use of Power City's carbon fiber 
> technology. I've even seen a proposal for building a mountain-sized 
> dehumidifying tower in Florida to ward off hurricanes. Personally, I feel that 
> would be an incredibly bad idea.

I think I agree. X>

> But I was around in 1968, when humanity 
> couldn't agree on anything. It's nice to know that humanity can now put out the 
> big ideas, and still reasonably decide about them.

awwwwww. :> <3

Drew "the utopianism of a World's Fair fits perfectly here" Nilium