(urth) the prime calcula/his citadel and other quotes

[David Duffy]

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011, Gerry Quinn wrote:

>
> From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <danldo at gmail.com>
> Gerry Quinn wrote:
>
>> > I think the more obscure clues can often be pointers to the ideas Wolfe > 
>> is
>> > getting at, but I also think that in his SF it's the concrete events and
>> > details - the stuff that actually happens - that holds the key to
>> > understanding. It's not the Mystical Kabbalah - it's a science fiction
>> > story, guys!
>> 
>> No it isn't. It's science fantasy.
>
> Maybe.  I think Wolfe would probably call it science fiction - that's what he 
>

I'm pretty sure there was an interview where he described it as science 
fantasy, which I found interesting because of the statement by many 
writers at that time that there is no such thing.  That is, either it is 
fantasy because the science is too soft or absent, or it is proper science 
fiction, with one allowed impossibility.  BotNS has lots of deliciously 
wrong science, such as the useful properties of contraterrene matter 
mentioned earlier.


However, the solar powered green man can be made to work: bumping up 
the photosynthetic efficiency of the algae, changing his metabolism to 
something closer to the poikilotherms, or allowing him to visit a high 
intensity solarium every day:

tropical insolation 6-7 kWh/m2/day, equivalent 5100-6000 kcal daily;
body surface area 1.65 m2;
exposure ratios for standing man 0.14-0.39 from site to site (I use 0.2);
(for a supine sunbather 0.35 say);

Unfortunately, the theoretical maximum for current (two pigment) 
photosynthesis 9%, so he must use tweaked algae and cyanobacteria 
containing quantum dots to get 60% efficiency (he can use IR, for 
instance).

This gives him 1200 kcal/day.

Ectotherms have basal metabolic rates 3-4 lower than a endotherm, partly 
by doing very little between meals.  A 65 kg individual with the 
same metabolism as a Komodo dragon (Nagy et al Ann Rev Nutr 1999; 19:247) 
would have a field metabolic rate of 810 kcal/day. Energy use for walking 
and running is supposed to be same for endo and ectotherms eg 50 kcal/km 
human walking, so he would be able to walk 8 km before tiring.

Obviously on Urth in prison, he lies fully outstretched in the sunbeam for 
as long as possible, but insolation is perhaps close to that in Scotland 
(say 1/3 of tropics), so reducing his intake to only 700 kcal.  At 6000 
kcal/kg fat, he loses 500 g of weight a month in captivity.

Cheers, David Duffy.