So there's a recent journal article suggesting that phosphorus, not carbon is the big limiter on potential life.
Long and involved article but short version is:
All life uses phosphorus. Plenty of the rest of life's chemistry is found across the galaxy, but strangely not phosphorus.
No way! Really? Because we use up all the jungle-wood? Or because of increased profit, or because bio-fuel is on the rise? I think most lumber is from planted forrests these days?
Don't quote me but I think it's increased demand due to home building and renovation combined with processers unable to keep up. There is enough timber but not enough lumber
I strongly believe that not just building but holding a mortgage will be something only capable of the higher class sooner than we think. I already expect my kid to only be able to rent as opposed to holding a mortgage whenever it comes time to find a home for them.
Also a book by ursala la guin (I may have butchered that) called the word for world is forest. It's about how we colonized a planet to harvest lumber basically. Lots of parallels to jamestown /american colonization. Pretty interesting, good book
Also IIRC in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, most of the colonized worlds don't have wood, but one (Barrayar, which had been isolated for centuries) not only had vast forests and buildings made of wood, people were shocked that they would just burn it for heat!
We can currently grow meat without the animal with just cells from it. By the time we are a interstellar species I'm sure we'll figure out lab grown wood.
I think the hard part, but not impossible is the minor imperfections. It's not just straight grains. The little waves are what make it beautiful. The random width from some dry, some wet summers, short and long winters
true, but people like stuff just because its rare or forbidden even if its impractical or worse or more expensive. Just how people pay more money for a celebrities belonging. people will pay extra for "authentic wood"
I guess we could cut down the growth some, but we already use fast growing pine trees to get the majority of our construction lumber, which take between 5-10 years to fully mature.
If we're talking about using artificial methods to grow slabs of wood instead of entire trees, I would think space savings and being able to grow types of wood where the climate wouldn't otherwise allow. Probably speed as well.
1. Make cyborg implants for all humans to improve overall health and longevity.
2. Give birth to AI, effectively joining the entire human race into a hive mind.
3. ???
4. WE ARE BORG. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
This is also why amber is like the rarest natural "gemstone" (to our knowledge at least) in the universe: you need life to create it, and even on a planet teeming with life, it is still pretty rare.
Clearly you haven't been in any construction business now. Lumber prices are ridiculous at the moment because of demand. So much so that previously higher end building materials, like Trex for deck and patio builds, are comparable or cheaper than using wood which was the cheaper alternative up until now.
This is one thing they talk about in 'The Expanse'. All of the space ships are like steel or foam or carbon fiber, etc. One of the characters is like a super rich guy and his space ship is called opulent because he has a wooden desk and trim and such.
You are an exceedingly optimistic person. Wood is going to be a luxury building material on Earth at the rate we're going. The idea that we're actually going to make it to another solar system is laughable.
Not necessarily on another planet. And you need YEARS to grow enough useable wood for construction. If the environment is hospitable to that. It's no guarantee the planet would have native "trees." You definitely don't have the luxury of transporting processed lumber on initial colonization.
And you'd need biome space for actual food crops in a sealed environment. First generation structures on colonized planets would probably be concrete. Planets will have rocks. And if they don't have water we couldn't live there anyway.
At this rate, there won't be any wood left. There's going to be nothing left because corporations and billionaires give no fuks. Oh and people in general.
Price of wood is already up, construction is more expensive, eventually if it continues to go up construction may not be pheasable in the future. Water is also being traded as a luxury, I say we're pretty much screwed for the future
like building a wooden minecraft house in the desert
So there's a recent journal article suggesting that phosphorus, not carbon is the big limiter on potential life.
Long and involved article but short version is:
All life uses phosphorus. Plenty of the rest of life's chemistry is found across the galaxy, but strangely not phosphorus.
You obviously never played Rimworld :)
Fearing googling Rimworld
It's safe, popular cartoony space videogame.
Ah yes, so cartoony. Let me just chop off the legs of my prisoners to prevent them from running.
who hurt you?
The slave traders wearing human leather hats :(
Space wood!
Kinda like Jakobs weapons in the borderlands game series.
Coming from a carpenter, with current prices it pretty much already is lol
the price of lumber has tripled
Wood would be considered a luxury in any other place of our own Solar system
There's more astatine than wood in the universe.
Honestly it's already coming to that
We are colonizing other star-systems? Last I checked the nearest star over was 100,000 years away.
Warp travel duh, have you not seen the star trek documentaries
Na we need Solomon Epstein's Drive.
Though a Martian research station on Phoebe would also help
hey does anyone wanna check what's going on on Eros rn?
Hold on, before we do that, imagine the impact a behemoth would have
That escalated quickly.
It reaches out it reaches out it reaches out.
Mars has Phobos; Saturn and F.R.I.E.N.D.S. have Phoebe.
The ones with Tim Allen - right?
You mean the historical documents?
grabs paper and pencil have you heard of something called a wormhole?
He means wood is becoming a luxury and a rarity, not the latter.
No way! Really? Because we use up all the jungle-wood? Or because of increased profit, or because bio-fuel is on the rise? I think most lumber is from planted forrests these days?
Don't quote me but I think it's increased demand due to home building and renovation combined with processers unable to keep up. There is enough timber but not enough lumber
He meant that with the prices of lumber currently it's already becoming a luxury
With a single 2x4 costing $6+, I'd say we're already on track for homebuilding being only for the wealthy.
I strongly believe that not just building but holding a mortgage will be something only capable of the higher class sooner than we think. I already expect my kid to only be able to rent as opposed to holding a mortgage whenever it comes time to find a home for them.
It really isn't all that hard to find an affordable house outside of huge areas like NYC/LA.
That's just temporary though because there's a shortage due to, you know, the global pandemic. Give it two years and they'll be about back to normal.
We are going with steel beams now instead of wood for our reno
FYI, steel has increased in price at almost the same ratio
You'll be safe against jet fuel at least
Building your own home from scratch is 100% for the wealthy, wtf?
Go to home depot and look at the price of wood. The future is now old man
do u know how expensive is wood right now
Also a book by ursala la guin (I may have butchered that) called the word for world is forest. It's about how we colonized a planet to harvest lumber basically. Lots of parallels to jamestown /american colonization. Pretty interesting, good book
Imagine finding planets to seed with... seeds... for that exact purpose.
Le Guin. Pretty close!
Ursula K. Le Guin
Oh! I'll have to find it, I loved the Earthsea series she did.
Also IIRC in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, most of the colonized worlds don't have wood, but one (Barrayar, which had been isolated for centuries) not only had vast forests and buildings made of wood, people were shocked that they would just burn it for heat!
We can currently grow meat without the animal with just cells from it. By the time we are a interstellar species I'm sure we'll figure out lab grown wood.
I think the hard part, but not impossible is the minor imperfections. It's not just straight grains. The little waves are what make it beautiful. The random width from some dry, some wet summers, short and long winters
Just give it a lil shake
If we can travel between the stars I'm sure we can create random algorithms for wood grain character.
This guy computes!
true, but people like stuff just because its rare or forbidden even if its impractical or worse or more expensive. Just how people pay more money for a celebrities belonging. people will pay extra for "authentic wood"
Guys we can already grow wood
I keep my lab in the back yard. For space.
Science bitch!
The wood was inside us the whole time.
Yeah what would even be the point of "lab grown wood"
Presumably more rapid growth, less space and water use, ability to uniformly produce straight or formed-to-shape pieces, etc.
I guess we could cut down the growth some, but we already use fast growing pine trees to get the majority of our construction lumber, which take between 5-10 years to fully mature.
If we're talking about using artificial methods to grow slabs of wood instead of entire trees, I would think space savings and being able to grow types of wood where the climate wouldn't otherwise allow. Probably speed as well.
Pretty sure we can grow trees without the animal already
IF we don't go extinct before colonizing another system
Actually, there is a way around this...
1. Make cyborg implants for all humans to improve overall health and longevity.
2. Give birth to AI, effectively joining the entire human race into a hive mind.
3. ???
4. WE ARE BORG. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
And hail zorp
Or if that theory about genetic "rust" is true, we won't make it that far as we will not be intelligent enough
I am a molecular biologists and have not heard of this "theory", what does it actually say?
What are you referring too ive never heard of genetic rust
Return to monke
Basically the theory in Idiocracy?
This is also why amber is like the rarest natural "gemstone" (to our knowledge at least) in the universe: you need life to create it, and even on a planet teeming with life, it is still pretty rare.
Clearly you haven't been in any construction business now. Lumber prices are ridiculous at the moment because of demand. So much so that previously higher end building materials, like Trex for deck and patio builds, are comparable or cheaper than using wood which was the cheaper alternative up until now.
We'd be lucky to colonize a single star system, even just our own.
I imagine though that trees will be used for terroforming, or that other oxygen rich planets will have some similar plant.
This is one thing they talk about in 'The Expanse'. All of the space ships are like steel or foam or carbon fiber, etc. One of the characters is like a super rich guy and his space ship is called opulent because he has a wooden desk and trim and such.
You are an exceedingly optimistic person. Wood is going to be a luxury building material on Earth at the rate we're going. The idea that we're actually going to make it to another solar system is laughable.
Umm.. we can grow wood.
Not necessarily on another planet. And you need YEARS to grow enough useable wood for construction. If the environment is hospitable to that. It's no guarantee the planet would have native "trees." You definitely don't have the luxury of transporting processed lumber on initial colonization.
And you'd need biome space for actual food crops in a sealed environment. First generation structures on colonized planets would probably be concrete. Planets will have rocks. And if they don't have water we couldn't live there anyway.
Bamboo grows pretty quick, tho...
At this rate, there won't be any wood left. There's going to be nothing left because corporations and billionaires give no fuks. Oh and people in general.
Price of wood is already up, construction is more expensive, eventually if it continues to go up construction may not be pheasable in the future. Water is also being traded as a luxury, I say we're pretty much screwed for the future
Oh the same happened in Blade Runner 2049
I'm still waiting for the spinoff : Doctor Badger's Cabinet of Mysteries
And many other sci-fi/cyberpunk universes.
Like Altered Carbon, Cyberpunk 2020 or The Expense.
The Expense lol
It's a hardcore syfy accounting show. Pretty cool.
Interplanetary travel ain't cheap these days
Yeah, I read a lot of sci-fi and it's a common theme
And Dune, where they talk about the great beams of wood in the building and how expensive they were.