Well, if the balloon pops you may experience zero g after all.

Time to start donating blood.

Plus, the work is supposed to en eter the public domain once the copyright term expires.

With DRM there is not even the pretense that the work will ever make it into the public domain.

What if the intelligent species does have flippers incapable of grasping stuff?

What if the intelligent species does have annual mating season, with alpha males involved in fights over who gets to mate.

What if the intelligent species gets to live only to some 20 years old? Changes your perspective of what to do with your short life.

And a major one: Religion. Take a look at the US. Even though there is free speech, many people still prefer to cling to vacuous promises about afterlife, clinging to their opinions that are totally unsupported by any evidence for any supernatural being. Teaching factual information such as evolution is constantly opposed. (As a further detrimental effect, people have further delusions, such as not willing to grasp concepts like the greenhouse effect and leave it up to the hands of the imaginary deity to help them solve the problem. Which of course isn't going to happen).

To add to that line of argument, witness major religions that haven't contributed much to the progress of the intelligent species. True, under hinduism, some advanced math has been developed, but it didn't get us very far. Under early islam there was also some math developed, but further scientific progress was nipped in the bud and I wouldn't be able to mention a recent contribution from islamic countries advancing society (the one Pakistani scientist that got the Nobel prize worked in the US and belonged to a religious minority that is not considered muslim by their fellow countrymen).

Religions actively discourage people from being honest about reality. The bible says: don't rely on your own understanding. Islam teaches you: Don't question Mohammed/the quran.

There is a battle between religion and scientific progress, and on any alien planet where religion wins, progress halts. At some point an asteroid will strike which couldn't be diverted because religion halted progress and it is game over for ever for that civilisation.

I hate to bring it up, but there is only one reality. And it doesn't depend on your or my opinion at all, left alone on one's political or religious inclination.

You will probably have an occupation different from mine. Do you think that I could do a better job than you do in your field? Do you think it is likely that I can validly point out that you're wrong and I'm right? Personally I don't think so. Now, there is not just one expert but there are thousands of experts in all fields relating to climate change. And your opinion differs from their's. Do I think it is likely that you are right and they are wrong? It is exactly like creationists. They believe that scientists are off by a factor of about 2 million when it comes to the age of the universe. And they know that for sure (despite any evidence).

I think it is a moral imperative to be honest, and accept reality even if you don't like it.

Bert
 

And effectively make it break-even or better, and thus help people who can't figure this out themselves.

Bert

Ok, here is what one can do in case of a problem: Find solutions. Here is one: You burn the surface of the cedar yourself (it looks great) and an ember falling will not likely cause a fire because the surface is already oxidized. Google Shou sugi ban for the posh version of this.

Bert

Totally irresponsible: He could have cracked the dome over the earth and all the air would have leaked out.

Bert

On a more serious note: I'm impressed with his launch. So much that can go wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... (Top Gear reliant Robin space shuttle)

Not everybody knows what NASA really stands for: North American Secret Agents. Or was it North American Security Agents.

Bert

Aussies are quickly adopting solar energy and Powerwalls, hitting three flies with one slap: Lower energy bills, backup power in case of a blackout, and the net is stabilized, making price gauging harder. Go Aussies!

Bert

It is double use of land. Ever been in China? I haven't but a friend of mine has been several times. One time he took a long (some four hours) train trip from one major city (million plus inhabitants) to another. On the map you could clearly see the city boundaries. From the train, you couldn't. There were buildings/houses everywhere.

But in some countries they don't value resources.... ....

Then the cars need less electricity because' they're not moving much. ....

It is impossible for cars to have batteries.
It is impossible for electricity to be transported to a particular location by cables.

Yes, as soon as the kid has grown up, it has to do exactly that. Until then, we don't force the kid to work and don't tax him. Just like human kids.

Bert

"The obligations of the US are very different than those of Syria or any other country. "

It is not that the US hasn't been a major contributor in the past which lead to the level of CO2 we're at now and to the problem we're facing now. You want fair, the US would have to do way more than is in the Paris climate deal.

Bert

The robber also extinguishes the fire when your house is on fire and tries to save you from the house. The robber comes via the same roads that you use for free every day. The robber also keeps out any unfriendly country that is interested in your land. Etc. Etc. Etc.

That doesn't compare much to the criminal you depicted in your story. Your comparison failed badly. ....