History Trivia / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E15Progress

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale:
** [[TheNewTens Nowadays]], powering a few hundred thousand homes wouldn't require tapping the core of the planet, there are several alternatives offered by late 20[[superscript:th]]/early 21[[superscript:st]] century technology. Imagine how much the technology would improve between now and 2370.
*** Geothermal power plants would work just fine without causing any ecological desolation. Iceland[[note]]pop. 325,000+[[/note]] already gets most of its power this way. There's also the added bonus of essentially free heat for many homes, as well.
*** Solar power can be used for heating[[labelnote:really!]]Don't believe it? Fill a black container with water and leave it out in the sun for a while, then see what happens if you try to drink it[[/labelnote]] ''and'' power. In 300 years there would probably be the technology to put huge solar satellites in orbit that would transmit the power to the surface.
*** Hydroelectric power doesn't always require [[JustForPun damn big dams]] on a river. Alternatives can best be described as "windmills under water," whether that water is a river or the ocean. Speaking of windmills...
*** Wind power. If there's an atmosphere, there's wind.
*** Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. Familiar to players of [[VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire]] as the Thermocline Transducer, these devices abuse the sharp temperature differential in water on either sides of a layer called the thermocline. Combine that with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect thermoelectric effect]] and you've got instant power anywhere the ocean is deep enough.
*** Not to mention fusion energy which is firmly established as being in Bajor and the Federation's tech[[note]]They say Earth is still about 15 years away from fusion power, [[MedievalStasis and has been since the Seventies]].[[/note]] and is clean as well.
** On another note, the notion that an [[GhibliHills M-class]] moon orbiting a heavily-populated, warp-capable planet would only have fifty people living on it is pretty difficult to swallow. If UsefulNotes/TheMoon had a biosphere and Earth-like gravity, we'd probably have hundreds of people living there ''today''. Even if you assume that the Cardassians drove most of the population away, one has to wonder why the Cardassians didn't colonize it themselves.

*** Likely because the Cardassians were only interested in resources, primarily having had the Bajorans doing mining (they're noted to have rendered large portions of the planet non-arable in the process). From the way Mullibok describes his farming situation and the food his field actually produces (bland roots that take hours of boiling to be edible and some katterpods), it's not even particularly good for that. If there were no metal reserves the Cardassians wanted, they probably would have ignored it, and if there was anything more valuable on it than the molten core (like actually good farmland) the Bajorans likely wouldn't be intending to render it uninhabitable.

* DevelopmentGag: 47 people have already left Jerrado, continuing the Creator/JoeMenosky-based tradition of making references Pomona College.

*** Likely because the Cardassians were only interested in resources, primarily having had the Bajorans doing mining (they're noted to have rendered large portions of the planet non-arable in the process). From the way Mullibok describes his farming situation and the food his field actually produces (bland roots that take hours of boiling to be edible and some katterpods), it's not even particularly good for that. If there were no metal reserves the Cardassians wanted, they probably would have ignored it, and if there was anything more valuable on it than the molten core (like actually good farmland) the Bajorans likely wouldn't be intending to render it uninhabitable.

** On another note, the notion that an [[GhibliHills M-class]] moon orbiting a heavily-populated, warp-capable planet would only have fifty people living on it is pretty difficult to swallow. If UsefulNotes/TheMoon had a biosphere and Earth-like gravity, we'd probably have hundreds of people living there ''today''. Even if you assume that the Cardassians drove most of the population away, one has to wonder why the Cardassians didn't colonize it themselves.

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: [[TheNewTens Nowadays]] powering a few hundred thousand homes wouldn't require tapping the core of the planet, there are several alternatives offered by late 20[[superscript:th]]/early 21[[superscript:st]] century technology. Imagine how much the technology would improve between now and 2370.
** Geothermal power plants would work just fine without causing any ecological desolation. Iceland[[note]]pop. 325,000+[[/note]] already gets most of its power this way. There's also the added bonus of essentially free heat for many homes, as well.
** Solar power can be used for heating[[labelnote:really!]]Don't believe it? Fill a black container with water and leave it out in the sun for a while, then see what happens if you try to drink it[[/labelnote]] ''and'' power. In 300 years there would probably be the technology to put huge solar satellites in orbit that would transmit the power to the surface.
** Hydroelectric power doesn't always require [[JustForPun damn big dams]] on a river. Alternatives can best be described as "windmills under water," whether that water is a river or the ocean. Speaking of windmills...
** Wind power. If there's an atmosphere, there's wind.
** Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. Familiar to players of [[VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire]] as the Thermocline Transducer, these devices abuse the sharp temperature differential in water on either sides of a layer called the thermocline. Combine that with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect thermoelectric effect]] and you've got instant power anywhere the ocean is deep enough.
** Not to mention fusion energy which is firmly established as being in Bajor and the Federation's tech[[note]]They say Earth is still about 15 years away from fusion power, [[MedievalStasis and has been since the Seventies]].[[/note]] and is clean as well.

** Not to mention fusion energy which is firmly established as being in Bajor and the Federation's tech[[note]]Earth is still about 15 years away from fusion power.[[/note]] and is clean as well.

** Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. Familiar to players of [[VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire]] as the Thermocline Transducer, these devices abuse the sharp temperature differential in water on either sides of a layer called the thermocline. Combine that with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect thermoelectric effect]] and you've got instant power anywhere the ocean is deep enough.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: [[TheNewTens Nowadays]] powering a few hundred thousand homes wouldn't require tapping the core of the planet, there are several alternatives offered by late 20[[superscript:th]]/early 21[[superscript:st]] century technology. Imagine how much the technology would improve between now and 2370.

** Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. Familiar to players of [[VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire]] as the Thermocline Transducer, these devices abuse the sharp temperature differential in water on either sides of layer called the thermocline. Combine that with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect thermoelectric effect]] and you've got instant power anywhere there's deep enough ocean.

** Wind power. If there's an atmosphere, there's wind.

** Geothermal power plants would work just fine without causing any ecological desolation. Iceland[[note]]pop. 325,000+[[/note]] already gets most of its power this way. There's also the added bonus of essentially free heat for many homes, as well."