One of my worlds

[Steve C]

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since I came on here and posted. I'm kind of bored, and wanted to write down some of my daydream plots. As some of you know, I like to think of myself as a 'technical' DDer. I like to get very in depth with my daydreams, most of which revolve around science and technology. I want to go through one with you, but it's too long for one post. Below is just the first part. After writing this, I realized it was hard to tell what part of my daydream is fiction and which is scientific fact that I adapt or explore. So, I will try to note sources of things which I assume from scientific fact.

My favorite and most played-out DD is living alone in a post-apocalyptic world. The main inspiration for this was from the movie "The Road". In the movie, a man and his son travel in a world where it's cloudy all the time, so most life dies on the planet. I wondered if it would be possible to live on my own in these conditions, and I've been DD'ing about it for years now. During the period of a couple weeks, I usually cycle through a iteration of it, sometimes the same, sometimes not. Sometimes I include my family and friends as survivors, other times they tragically pass, as many other humans do. It always starts off with me struggling to survive, then sustaining myself, then improving until I'm an old man whom has created sophisticated systems. The main enjoyment from this is the feeling of being couped up somewhere, with no where else to go and no other obligations, and doing things my way...Improving myself, improving my knowledge. It's an outlet to be creative with different ideas of how to make a computer, produce food, etc. Oddly, another reason is to live out nostalgia. I imagine I would be sentimental, watching movies and playing video games I remember from my childhood. Being in isolation would make me insane in some fashion surely, and that would be my escape.

In order for the plot to start of right, I incorporate another one of my self idealization daydreams of building my own massive house half underground, built with cob (It's pretty interesting, example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthship). The reason I start off with this already built is because I want a good place to start. I already would have some of the basic stuff I need.

So anyway, It doesn't matter what the cause is. Nuclear war, climage change, asteroids, volcanic ash. The end result is sunlight does not get through to earths surface. Sometimes I go further and cover the earth in snow, basically trapping me down for most of a years cycle. I get some warning, perhaps a month. Enough time to acquire things like plant seeds, short term food, digital storage, knowledge dumps, graphene, LED lights, and a barrel or two of gasoline. It's too dangerous to go outside looking for food and constantly being on the move. I'm stuck down here now. I start my initial phase by building a makeshift underground greenhouse powered by LED lights to grow enough food to survive. For power, I use some generators powered by the gasoline reserves. This won't last forever though, so I have to find a more sustainable solution.

So, electricity generation is the first major hurtle. The real truth is that electricity can be generated in so many different ways, and in real life I get frustrated that we can't transition to more sustainable methods than oil. Did you know you can get an electrical current from the dirt in the ground (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_battery)? In fact, if the placement is good, underground, you can get a pretty good flow going (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluric_currents). Since half of my house is underground, I venture out (I don't do this often) and acquire copper wires from abandoned houses, power lines, etc. I create several circuits of wire by running it from one side of my house to the other, with the ends drilled deep into the walls. It generates some electricity, but not nearly enough power to sustain any sort of greenhouse. I employ other methods, such as thermoelectric power (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect). Some metals, when one side is hotter than other, generate a current. How would I get two different temperatures? Another fun fact is that earths subterranean temperature is lower and more consistant than the surface. The heat can't penetrate earths surface that easily, so surface fluctuations have little impact. Already having drilled a deep ventilation shaft on the bottom floor of my house (from my other DD, that was to provide free air conditioning), I melt and solder these special metals into a long wire and put it down the shaft. This creates a ground coupled heat exchange (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-coupled_heat_exchanger).

Now I have enough electricity flowing into my circuit breaker to at least produce average flowering vegetables. I soon realize that the yield is far too small for months of waiting, so now it's time to improve agriculture. I start to separate each crop and build a 'crop in a box'. An enclosed unit that has a aeroponic watering system, it's own panel of LED lights. The idea is to be efficient as possible in regards to space and meeting the plants needs for optimal growth. Later in the story, I improve these systems, but for now I still consider it makeshift, but at least it allows me to tweak environmental variables for various crops for optimal yields.

It's always a ladder... Improving my situation, wondering how, and what new problems would arise in the infrastructure.

I would go further but I felt like I've written a lot already today. Maybe I'll continue if people are curious.

[daniel glickman]

Interesting, thanks for sharing