The world building in this show is amazing. Glad you appreciate it. A lot of your questions are explained quite thoroughly in the books. Loved the discussion.
Alex is from an area of Mars that was settled by Indian and Texan colonists, which is why he has the ethnicity of one and the accent of another.
Earth is hideously overpopulated (I think it is 32 billion) and I am guessing that with a world government the power might be allocated according to individual countries population, which is why India has such a lot of influence.
This episode was called “Windmills” a reference to the book “Don Quixote” (the printed book Holdens mum refers to) about a Spanish nobleman who loses his mind and thinks he is a heroic knight fighting an unbeatable battle. The characters horse is named Rocinante. This is how the writer of the original book shows that Holden is an idealist, possibly with a hero complex.
Important distinction – Basic Assistance is just welfare on steroids, backed by a really steep corporate tax, to service the 30 billion on Earth. It’s not UBI because it’s not money, but government vouchers which restrict what things can be acquired; you get clothed, fed adequately, and receive basic healthcare, but your ability to buy other things is essentially non-existent.
If you manage to get a job from the few that exist, you come off Basic until you are let go or you quit. Those who are born illegally (without a license) or who voluntarily refuse Basic, receive no assistance whatsoever. The only real alternatives are a thriving grey market and organized crime.
So in real life “Creole” (as a language) is often used shorthand for Haitian Creole, but the definition for creole is any language combined from two or more “parent” languages. Belter Creole is mostly English, but with some Germanic, Chinese, Romance, Indic, Slavic, and the Niger-Congo languages.
The conversation between Holden and the spy towards the end really intrigued me….
We saw the spy rig the airlock doors. When Amos announced that he was there to let him out and not kill him, he undid the trap. I assume that Amos could have been killed or incapacitated if he touched the door controls.
Later the spy asks Holden if he is an animal like Amos. He wants to know if he is going to be killed. He pleads with Holden for this information and says he needs to know because “he is not an animal either.”
I felt he was trying to avoid another situation where he would be needing to kill, in order to survive.
This mans conscious felt like a force in itself and I continue to examine his purpose in this show.
Eric is on point with the physics. The PDC’s firing produces negative thrust, so compressed gas is vented from the PDCs as reaction mass to counter the thrust and keep the balance zero. Same thing with the Donnager’s drive. The ship was moving in a constant direction. When the core overloaded and the pilot had to shut it down, they lost thrust, which is what generates gravity. It’s not going to send them into a spin when all thrust cuts at the same time. Railguns would also require an equal amount of reaction mass to counter the mass ejected from the gun, otherwise the ship is going to recoil.
Regarding the weapons–the torpedoes are guided, so yes, they will turn and follow a target. They basically have the same drive the ships use on a much smaller scale, so tiny little fusion drives. They can flip and burn just like a ship. So there’s strategy with using them. If it’s coming on the opposite vector of a ship, they’re harder to take out with PDCs, but easier to dodge, Coming on the same vector, PDCs will have more time to target them, but they’re harder to dodge. But the torps are pretty maneuverable, overall. and don’t have to worry about pulling too many Gs, so they WILL catch up to a ship, eventually. PDCs and railguns are unguided. PDCs we’ve seen quite a bit–they’re mostly for taking out incoming torps, but are also effective at close range against smaller targets. Railguns will mess you UP–their projectiles are pretty much impossible to dodge at close range.
As far as firing hand guns and other small arms, I don’t think the show mentions it, but they have recoilless rounds that are used in zero-g. The rounds are self-propelled. So, no as high velocity, but they won’t knock you across the room when you fire, so there’s that advantage.
The world building in this show is amazing. Glad you appreciate it. A lot of your questions are explained quite thoroughly in the books. Loved the discussion.
Love this show and the guys discussion.
Alex is from an area of Mars that was settled by Indian and Texan colonists, which is why he has the ethnicity of one and the accent of another.
Earth is hideously overpopulated (I think it is 32 billion) and I am guessing that with a world government the power might be allocated according to individual countries population, which is why India has such a lot of influence.
This episode was called “Windmills” a reference to the book “Don Quixote” (the printed book Holdens mum refers to) about a Spanish nobleman who loses his mind and thinks he is a heroic knight fighting an unbeatable battle. The characters horse is named Rocinante. This is how the writer of the original book shows that Holden is an idealist, possibly with a hero complex.
Important distinction – Basic Assistance is just welfare on steroids, backed by a really steep corporate tax, to service the 30 billion on Earth. It’s not UBI because it’s not money, but government vouchers which restrict what things can be acquired; you get clothed, fed adequately, and receive basic healthcare, but your ability to buy other things is essentially non-existent.
If you manage to get a job from the few that exist, you come off Basic until you are let go or you quit. Those who are born illegally (without a license) or who voluntarily refuse Basic, receive no assistance whatsoever. The only real alternatives are a thriving grey market and organized crime.
So in real life “Creole” (as a language) is often used shorthand for Haitian Creole, but the definition for creole is any language combined from two or more “parent” languages. Belter Creole is mostly English, but with some Germanic, Chinese, Romance, Indic, Slavic, and the Niger-Congo languages.
The conversation between Holden and the spy towards the end really intrigued me….
We saw the spy rig the airlock doors. When Amos announced that he was there to let him out and not kill him, he undid the trap. I assume that Amos could have been killed or incapacitated if he touched the door controls.
Later the spy asks Holden if he is an animal like Amos. He wants to know if he is going to be killed. He pleads with Holden for this information and says he needs to know because “he is not an animal either.”
I felt he was trying to avoid another situation where he would be needing to kill, in order to survive.
This mans conscious felt like a force in itself and I continue to examine his purpose in this show.
Eric is on point with the physics. The PDC’s firing produces negative thrust, so compressed gas is vented from the PDCs as reaction mass to counter the thrust and keep the balance zero. Same thing with the Donnager’s drive. The ship was moving in a constant direction. When the core overloaded and the pilot had to shut it down, they lost thrust, which is what generates gravity. It’s not going to send them into a spin when all thrust cuts at the same time. Railguns would also require an equal amount of reaction mass to counter the mass ejected from the gun, otherwise the ship is going to recoil.
This was the first appearance of The Churn! Psyched!
Regarding the weapons–the torpedoes are guided, so yes, they will turn and follow a target. They basically have the same drive the ships use on a much smaller scale, so tiny little fusion drives. They can flip and burn just like a ship. So there’s strategy with using them. If it’s coming on the opposite vector of a ship, they’re harder to take out with PDCs, but easier to dodge, Coming on the same vector, PDCs will have more time to target them, but they’re harder to dodge. But the torps are pretty maneuverable, overall. and don’t have to worry about pulling too many Gs, so they WILL catch up to a ship, eventually. PDCs and railguns are unguided. PDCs we’ve seen quite a bit–they’re mostly for taking out incoming torps, but are also effective at close range against smaller targets. Railguns will mess you UP–their projectiles are pretty much impossible to dodge at close range.
As far as firing hand guns and other small arms, I don’t think the show mentions it, but they have recoilless rounds that are used in zero-g. The rounds are self-propelled. So, no as high velocity, but they won’t knock you across the room when you fire, so there’s that advantage.
“What if I just walked in the room, watched you pee, and walked out when you were done?” -my new favorite random question!