04-09-2021, 05:22 PM
Yeah, I can see it as a "between galaxies" phenomenon.
There could be some Rogue Swarms slowly developing in undisturbed places, at or outside the galactic rim, or above or below the galactic plane - very very sparse, several times as wide as but probably comprising less than one percent of the mass, of a "typical" Dyson Swarm, with dynamics such that, if anything were around long enough to complete an orbit, it would take millions of years.
But places near the center of the swarm can already be known as spots where the infrared environment makes it impossible to *passively* radiate away enough heat to stay at a comfortable-to-unmodified temperature. Any nebs who want to live there need to run heat pumps and keep radiators running just so they don't get too hot. And further out, there could already be stations living on the infrared from the center.
It might be well-understood that there are no problems with scaling it up, but it would probably be something that grows very slowly or stays fairly small for thousands of years just because not very many people want to live there. The idea of living off the infrared emanations of powered stations seems like an idea that would originate with Hiders.
There could be some Rogue Swarms slowly developing in undisturbed places, at or outside the galactic rim, or above or below the galactic plane - very very sparse, several times as wide as but probably comprising less than one percent of the mass, of a "typical" Dyson Swarm, with dynamics such that, if anything were around long enough to complete an orbit, it would take millions of years.
But places near the center of the swarm can already be known as spots where the infrared environment makes it impossible to *passively* radiate away enough heat to stay at a comfortable-to-unmodified temperature. Any nebs who want to live there need to run heat pumps and keep radiators running just so they don't get too hot. And further out, there could already be stations living on the infrared from the center.
It might be well-understood that there are no problems with scaling it up, but it would probably be something that grows very slowly or stays fairly small for thousands of years just because not very many people want to live there. The idea of living off the infrared emanations of powered stations seems like an idea that would originate with Hiders.