Comments on: The shining city … on the sea?

By: Leslie

Leslie — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:20:17 +0000

ST,

What you say is true. Obviously, before they’re built (if ever they are) these are the sorts of things that will have to be discussed.

We’re at the dream stage here, not the engineering stage.

By: Sister Toldjah

Sister Toldjah — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:35:15 +0000

Leslie, I don’t “know” for sure that it’s unrealistic – it’s just my opinion. A city that floats around the world is a disaster waiting to happen, IMO. Other commenters have asked relevant questions about the potential hazards of having a floating city, and I don’t have much confidence that the designer of the city took most – if any – of those types of questions into account with his creation.

By: Lily Pad Nation? « The Political Page

Lily Pad Nation? « The Political Page — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:22:50 +0000

[...] Sister Toldjah considers the possibilityÂ of “Lily Pad Nations” : [...]

By: Leslie

Leslie — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:07:44 +0000

ST,

How do you know this is unrealistic? A century ago, TV was unrealistic.

Nobody wanted to fund Babbage’s “difference engine,” and it wasn’t until 130 years too late that one was finally built. And it worked.

Had it been built in the 1840s, it would have been the first real computer and the entire course of history would have been changed.

By: sanity

sanity — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:39:11 +0000

Like any great Lilypad, all it needs are the frogs.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:51:06 +0000

Probably not gonna happen, but it looks cool. I’d like to have my own private one to hangout on, but the Goracle will probably beat me to it.

By: Sister Toldjah

Sister Toldjah — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:35:07 +0000

C’mon, Leslie. A self-sustaining city that floats around the world is about as realistic as Barack Obama taking a consistent position on just about any issue. It being a clever and beautiful doesn’t change that.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:31:18 +0000

Very clever, and very beautiful. As sci-fi pioneer Hugo Gernsback said about 85 years ago, “science fiction today, cold fact tomorrow.”

This is not a project that ought to be mocked.

By: david foster

david foster — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:43:40 +0000

No collisions, Anthony. Each lilypad will have a large group of galley slaves public service volunteers equipped with long oars to row the thing out of the way of other lilypads and various marine obstacles. These galley slaves volunteers will be taken from among the population which refuses to accept orders scientifc truth from their natural superiors experts

By: Frank Veracity

Frank Veracity — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:00:06 +0000

I think the “Law of Unintended Consequences” is going to have a field day if these ever get built.

What happens when they run aground?
What happens when they are just drifting along and wind up in a hurricane or cyclone?
What happens when they enter the territorial waters of a nasty, mean, unfriendly nation?
Wbat happens when they hit an iceberg?
What happens when nature takes its course and the population grows?
The list goes on and on.

By: Anthony (Los Angeles)

Anthony (Los Angeles) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:30:44 +0000

Hey, just as a fan of science-fiction, I love this idea. To heck with the global-warming nuts, I want them built just because they’re cool-looking!

One small problem, though: if these are to drift on the world’s currents, what happens when they collide? Will there be war between two floating eco-paradises? Conflict among the cabanas?

I can see the UN peacekeepers’ next assignment already.

By: NC Cop

NC Cop — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:45:45 +0000

Unfortunately, there will be no flat screen TV's on this eco-friendly paradise, so count me out!! Flat-Screen TV Gas 'a Climate Time Bomb'

By: Lorica

Lorica — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:30:29 +0000

I like the second picture. It gives the impression that even the sea life would be happy if we lived in these cities. /Sings….”If we could walk with the animals, talk with the animals.” – Lorica