Wouldn't it be better to use all that obsidian to build nether portals so we can build a public transit system on the bedrock roof?
Or maybe we can feed the homeless obsidian?
I'm pretty sure at that size the obsidian eats homeless.
They placed it right next to Bay Bridge too, a place in dire need of traffic decongestion.
Turns out it'd be a dissapointingly small sphere:
US annual defence budget = $800 billion
2% = $16 billion
Obsidian cost per kg = $5
Total kg in budget = 3.2 billion kg
Density of obsidian = 2.6 g/cm3 = 2600 kg/m3
Total volume of sphere = 3.2b/2600 = 1230769 m3
Volume of sphere = 4/3 π r^3
Radius = (3V/4π)^(1/3) = 66.48 m
The sphere would only stand at 133m tall, I propose we instead utilise the entire defence budget for a much more skyscraper like 490m tall orb
Nobody said it had to be a solid sphere, how else would you get it to emit the ominous hum without attuning its natural frequency by carefully designing the thickness of the obsidian layer?
ignores engineering and construction cost. but we can assume that all people involved would work for free, because its a massive honour
Obsidian Orb is really Roko's Basilisk. Allowing you to live is your payment for building it.
Well that's assuming it's completely solid and not hollow. Hollow would probably be pretty huge, although the structural rigidity might not be great. Maybe we make a giant obsidian 3D printer and print it at like 10-15% infill.
You're assuming one year of budget. I take it as 2% per year and something of that size would likely take 10+ years to build out.
My only question is why we didn't build the orb back in the Eisenhower administration when it was most needed.
Would be a far better use of the 'defense' budget than what they're currently spending it on.
Thats funny because more than 2%, more like 40%, of our defense budget is going into a black orb never to be seen again and is completely unaccounted for.
I have the feeling that if we shook execs at Raytheon and Lockheed upside down for long enough a fair amount of that would fall out.
Why would it hum and am I taking this too seriously?
Large homogenous objects make noise. Most theories i've heard think it's a result of vibration/internal stresses.
But is the joke that it will hum because that feature is money well spent, or because a large orb just does because of science, or because it just does and no one knows why?
Well because it comes out of the defence budget it would be a military installation and therefore the hum is classified
I think you're not taking it seriously enough. The number of benefits from this would be immense.
Think of all of the use we got out of the Omaha Cube! And it only whistles!
Why wouldn't it hum?
I support this project.
It should go on top of Devil Mountain, it has one of the largest viewsheds in the western US.
If we’re ok with relocating it outside of California, let’s put it on top of Devil's Tower and call it the world’s largest Gazing Ball garden ornament.
Just imagine the size we could build if we used all of the defense budget. It's resonant frequency would blow the eardrums of everyone on the West Coast and kill all marine life. One day when I'm presadent...
And eventually someone will spray graffiti really high up somehow
Coca Cola ad*
In 2022, the defense dept spent 590billion dollars, 2% of that would be 11.8 billion dollars. While it is impossible to calculate the cost of constructing this sphere, it cost 25 billion dollars to develop the Airbus A380, and 150 Billion to complete the International space station.
The US defense budget isn't an infinite pool of money. It's 15% of the federal budget. It's dwarfed by healthcare spending (27%), and Social Security (24%). I'm not a war hawk, I try to bring this up in lefty spaces because skimming off the defense budget to solve social problems is a common, and silly belief.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget#Major_expenditure_categories
The military budget is massive, not just because a ton of money gets wasted, but because the US has a large military presence across the entire planet. Even if most of the money goes to waste, that's still enough to outspend every other military on earth. At the same time, SS is a massive project of direct payments to seniors, Medicare is massive and made more expensive by our shitty healthcare system, and US tax rates are low compared to their peak.
Tons of companies and rich people pay negative overall taxes, even though their activities cause costly externalities to society. More than not paying their fair share, they actually pass off large bills to everyone by not paying the full costs of their business. All because US foreign policy works to spread and maintain global capitalism instead of a rule based world order like they claim, incentivizing countries to offer competitive (low) tax rates. Economic interreliance disincentivizes international wars, but it causes economic suffering that fuels nationalism which incentivizes wars, civil conflict that can turn into civil wars, and undermines democracy in favor of plutocracy. Fucking utopian capitalists.
Note also absent from the defense spending budget is actual necessary gear for the troopers, such as proper helmets that protect from IED concussions and proper treatment from the DVA for TBI, of which we have hundreds of thousands of cases thanks to twenty years of War on Terror.
Recruits are entirely expendable, according to how our budgets are allocated, which is one of the primary points of counter-recruitment. Roll a D20 for every year of your term, and on a critical fumble, you either die or, way more likely, sustain a life-ruining wound. And those are the ones they count rather than PTSD cases they send back into the fray, the rape cases they make disappear or the troopers who wash out because a senior officer has a personality conflict with them and deigns to personally make their lives a living hell until they break.
In my own work with vets, all these stories have been commonplace, not just isolated incidents.
So yeah, if we're not going to treat our troops like human beings worthy of life, we can assume defense dollars are going to the cigars that Lockheed-Martin lobbyists hand out to our Senators to celebrate new contracts.
YOU'RE RUINING IT FOR ME!
Hell yeah, ominous hum!
Something one might propose to build in Night Vale.
There have been reports of a large black orb near the dog park. Ignore them. There is no orb. Nor is there a dog park. Besides, mysterious, humming orbs are nothing to worry about anyway. So why are you bothered by these reports? And now, the weather:
In fact, I would much rather live in a community where a wholesome, humming orb would be a welcome sight. If people report every single ominous orb that they see, why, there would be less majesty in this world. That sounds like the kind of austere, silent community that Desert Bluffs wants to be, and do we really want that to be the place we call home, dear listener?
This is what freedom is about. We should be able to vote to do this
Pondering my orb
It'd probably obliterate entire streets just by bundling reflections or something like that.
How much is that in dollars?
$817 billion in Defense Department spending For 2022.
2% is then $16.34 billion.
How much of that on other units? Please add those below.
Orannis?
