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Subterranean Civilization

 lets all move underground
  (+4, -7)
(+4, -7) 		  [vote for,
against]

I recently watched this documentary on the Discovery Channel about tunnel digging, and got to thinking, why not construct massive subterranean megacities that span as much of each region of the earth as possible, then just live there. Most of the surface could be allowed to revert to near-wild conditions, with some set aside as managed parkland. Wind turbines could be deployed on a large scale to supply power, and food (including meat -- see link) could be vat-grown. The overall structure of each underground megacity, while connected, should be compartmantalized enough that catistrophic failures would not cascade throughout. This should offer some resistence to global or celestrial events that would be extinction level otherwise, such as big asteroids, supervolcanos, local supernovae (and hypernovae -- see link) etc.
—JakePatterson, Mar 30 2002

vat grown meat http://www.newscien...s.jsp?id=ns99992066
[JakePatterson, Mar 30 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

extinction level supernovae? http://www.space.co...ursts_010522-1.html
[JakePatterson, Mar 30 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

oooooh errr! isn't this where *trolls* come from? http://www.hiddenmy...tem200/item272.html
myths of a sub-terranean nature [po, Mar 30 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

[link]






       PeterSealy, that's what the parkland is for...
—JakePatterson, Mar 30 2002
   

       Halfs and Half-nots...
—thumbwax, Mar 30 2002
   

       This would suck. You couldn't see the stars.
—StarChaser, Mar 31 2002
   

       Ah, better yet, build colonies in space per Gerard K. O'Neill. There is more room and resources available in orbit around the Sun to enable human beings to exist than could ever be found on or in any of the nine planets. Don't we have a moral obligation to build these colonies if they would enable one hundred or several thousand times more souls to live than could ever populate solar planetary surfaces or sub-surfaces?
—entremanure, Apr 01 2002
   

       Fishboned for the phrase "Vat-grown meat". Sorry.
—phoenix, Apr 03 2002
   

       I can't bring myself to believe that living underground would be less hazardous, regardless of what catastrophic events are occuring on the surface. However, it would be interesting if most of the population lived underground. I would still live on the surface, and allow myself to revert to a near-wild condition.
—xrayTed, Apr 03 2002
   

       Why don't we humans keep the surface and move all the wild animals and plants underground. Then we could visit them when ever we wish and still enjoy the sun and stars.
—StAndrew, Apr 03 2002
   

       [phoenix]: If you eat veal you are eating what I consider to be the equivalent of "vat grown meat."
—bristolz, Apr 03 2002
   

       //move all the wild animals and plants underground//
How... terminal
—thumbwax, Apr 03 2002
   

       The major technical problems of the deepest mines and bunkers are high temperatures, massive pressures on the rocks and keeping the water out, all variables depending on geographic location. Exactly where is your proposed megacity location(s)?   

       And as [phoenix] points out, if you ever want to market 'vat grown meat' you better spend some serious cash on marketing.
—dag, Apr 03 2002
   

       Would we be able to fend off the invading hordes Oompa-Loompas?
—cswiii, Jan 07 2003
   

       Well, if human civilization went underground, there would be less light pollution in the sky, hence more visible stars. And whole cities can be air-conditioned as well because the warm/cool air won't escape into the atmosphere.
—rhatta, Dec 14 2003
   

       Baked !!!! Mt. Shasta, Dulse, St. Martin's Land. They're all around you.
—Japanese_Coffee, Mar 26 2004
   

       half baked on the 'lets all' scale you specify in Isaac Asimov's "Caves of Steel".
—stilgar, May 09 2004
   

       One step on from [StAndrew]: Metropolis, where the poor are underground and the rich enjoy the open.   

       Alternatively: Baked in "Things To Come"'s Everytown.
—timbeau, May 10 2004
   

       This would be useful if martians invaded...
Although the chances of this happening are a million to one (he said)!
—MikeOliver, May 10 2004
   

       As much as that?   

       Anyone for another Microwaved Mushroom Steak? I couldn't eat another.   

       Are there any Oxygen issues here or do we just build the occasional big chimney to the surface?
—PainOCommonSense, May 10 2004
   
      
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