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What would a world where gravity is a weather condition look like? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by flashgnash@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Apologies if this doesn't fit here, not sure where else to post something like this on lemmy

I think having gravity act like weather might be an interesting concept for a fantasy world, where each country has its own gravity patterns, some tend to be heavier some tend to be lighter, some are all over the place

For a few examples, there could be a desert with gravity so high you can get dragged down into the sand

Could be a country with gravity so low everyone uses personal aircraft that work like bicycles instead of land vehicles

Animals in higher gravity areas would have less dense bones, more muscle, etc and lower gravity would have far larger animals because they can support more weight

In a really high gravity area people might need exoskeletons to prevent long term damage

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[–] joel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think the people who evolved in the highest gravity regions would become like supermen and end up ruling the whole world due to their superior strength. If not, it would at least give them a significant advantage while technology is still primitive. How would they defend themselves from attack?

[–] flashgnash@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

See I kinda thought the opposite. I had thought all the wealthy elite would snap up homes in the nice cushy lower gravity areas and have financial power to control the working class living in the harsher, higher gravity areas

To begin with without technology absolutely the higher gravity people would be at the advantage. I imagine the lower gravity areas' technology would be able to advance much more quickly though, less energy required from their society, so more going spare for research

Also, oceans still exist and as someone else has pointed out would be chaotic and dangerous to cross, so primitive societies would likely have a hard time

There's also an advantage for low gravity people there in that it's far easier for them to construct flying machines, so they would likely be far more mobile, and quite possibly first to make contact

[–] joel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you assuming there's the one species who live all over the globe, like humans do? I was coming from the viewpoint that there may be related but divergent species who evolved to different gravity "climates". I think that might affect the how things turn out to some extent.

Travel around the low gravity areas would be easier, but they would also only be limited to those areas due to piggyback weakness, whereas the people who evolved/grew up in high gravity would be able to travel the earth, so they would be the explorers, merchants and conquerors. Of course as technology advances this will all mean less and less

I can see the low gravity areas becoming prime real estate though, like you said. Talking geologically for a second, my first guess is that these would be higher elevation as the crust isn't pulled down so much by gravity, and erode slower. Also precious metal deposits might(?) be closer to the surface too. If this is the case then this will give the low G folks to also advance in tech faster with greater access to useful metals. So if they're quick enough maybe they can defeat the 'heavy's with ingenuity.

I didn't really come to a conclusion there did I? I just got more confused the more I thought about geopolitics..

[–] flashgnash@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Nothing wrong with not coming to a conclusion the goal is exploration

I am not assuming everyone would be the same physiology, however I imagine when travel becomes viable technologically people will start to mix and so will be varying amounts of high grav and low grav genetics, also I imagine a low grav individual who is born and grows up in a high grav area would end up suited for high grav through just building more muscle

That's more or less my thinking with high/low grav dominance, much the same as in real life it'll start out survival of the fittest and as society and technology progresses end up as smarter and/or more wealthy individuals in the lower grav areas taking over