[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.It would not seem strange or frightening to him; he would be used to it.Rather, it would be on Earth that he would be frightened, when he saw the ground level come toa visible end at the horizon.What forms would leisure take on a space settlement? After all, there would have to be leisure; settlers can't always be constructing, maintaining, and supervising.Thereare times off.In many ways, settlers would spend their leisure time as Earth-people would.They might garden, picnic with their families, watch television, play cards or chess, indulgein parties, conversation, or sex.All space settlements, however, have one characteristic Earth does not possess, something that would enormously affect leisure activity.Space settlements, of whatevershape or design, will have gravitational effects that vary in intensity from place to place; from Earth-normal, in places where the settlers go about their ordinary tasks, tolower and lower values in other places all the way down to zero gravity.Traveling from one part of the settlement to another may often involve passage through falls and rises in gravitational effect.This would have to be allowed for.Thus anelevator would be strongly pushed to one side as it rose, and to the other side as it fell, by something called the Coriolis force.These pressures would have to beallowed for in the design, and settlers would be acclimated to the feeling.Earth-people, when subjected to this on their tourist settlements, would find it as difficult to getused to this as landlubbers would to the pitching of a small vessel at sea.On the other hand, changes in gravitational effect would have their uses.Mountain-climbing on a settlement (on the larger ones, mountains a mile or two in height couldeasily exist) would be a delightful exercise.There would be neither snow, nor cold, nor thin air, and the higher you went the weaker the gravitational effect is likely tobe, so the easier it would be to go still higher.Of course the element of danger would be gone to a large extent, but most people wouldn't mind that.Ballgames of all sorts would require new skills if played under lower gravity.Balls would arc higher, come down more slowly; on the other hand, so would players.There would be a slow-motion grace to tennis, for instance, and a longer period of suspense while you wait for a slowly rising racket to meet a slowly rising ball overlarger playing fields.322 Life on a Space SettlementAt zero gravity, games would gain a total three-dimensionality.There would be air-hockey, in which the goals would be six in number at the ends of an invisibleoctahedron (or eight at the ends of an invisible cube).Players would have to swim through the air in pursuit of a ball.Each player might be outfitted with "keels" alonghis back and abdomen to give stability and keep him, or her, from tumbling when he, or she, tried to move.There would be "fins" on arms and legs to make air-swimming more efficient.No doubt it wouldn't be easy.The same with dancing, particularly ballet, under these conditions.Or trapeze work.Or flying for the fun of flying.Or calisthenics.Or playing tag.Or just horsingaround.All this is bound to be a wonderful sensation, beloved by all settlers.There would be areas reserved in every settlement for people who want to play or fly at zero ornear-zero gravity.Children would probably learn to fly as early as they learn to walk.(Children may try to fly or walk under inappropriate gravity conditions at first andbe frustrated, but they will learn.)Low-gravity swimming and diving into water would also have its special fun and skill.And, for that matter, so would low-gravity sexual activity. his back and abdomen to give stability and keep him, or her, from tumbling when he, or she, tried to move.There would be "fins" on arms and legs to make air-swimming more efficient.No doubt it wouldn't be easy.The same with dancing, particularly ballet, under these conditions.Or trapeze work.Or flying for the fun of flying.Or calisthenics.Or playing tag.Or just horsingaround.All this is bound to be a wonderful sensation, beloved by all settlers.There would be areas reserved in every settlement for people who want to play or fly at zero ornear-zero gravity.Children would probably learn to fly as early as they learn to walk.(Children may try to fly or walk under inappropriate gravity conditions at first andbe frustrated, but they will learn.)Low-gravity swimming and diving into water would also have its special fun and skill.And, for that matter, so would low-gravity sexual activity.At all times, to be sure, there would be the danger of misjudging the true effect of weightlessness.While weight might be little or zero, mass and inertia would notchange.A tumble from a height, or an unguarded collision with a wall, can bruise, cut, or even break a bone, regardless of how light we feel.Settlers will learn that earlyin life.Tourists from Earth on their tourist-settlements would have to be carefully indoctrinated and even so there will be occasional accidents.The low-gravity activity would, more than anything else, distinguish life on a settlement from life on the constant-gravity environment of Earth.And that low-gravityactivity would have its uses.In addition to being fun and adding to the interest and joy of life, it would keep bodies fit even in the soft, high-technology life of thesettlements.What's more, since so much of the serious work of the settlers would be on the low-gravity surface of the moon, or under zero-gravity conditions in space, the low-gravity play would prepare the body for low-gravity work.One more thing.Would the settlers have goals that Earth-people don't?Yes.To Earthmen, getting off the planet and into space would be a hard task, both physically and psychologically.To settlers, it would be easy; space-travel would bea "natural." To the settlers, there would be the goal of moving out to the asteroid belt where there would be more room for settlements and more easily availablematerial for building them.There would be the desire to explore the vastness of the outer solar system on long trips that the settlers could endure and Earth-people could not [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl matkasanepid.xlx.pl
.It would not seem strange or frightening to him; he would be used to it.Rather, it would be on Earth that he would be frightened, when he saw the ground level come toa visible end at the horizon.What forms would leisure take on a space settlement? After all, there would have to be leisure; settlers can't always be constructing, maintaining, and supervising.Thereare times off.In many ways, settlers would spend their leisure time as Earth-people would.They might garden, picnic with their families, watch television, play cards or chess, indulgein parties, conversation, or sex.All space settlements, however, have one characteristic Earth does not possess, something that would enormously affect leisure activity.Space settlements, of whatevershape or design, will have gravitational effects that vary in intensity from place to place; from Earth-normal, in places where the settlers go about their ordinary tasks, tolower and lower values in other places all the way down to zero gravity.Traveling from one part of the settlement to another may often involve passage through falls and rises in gravitational effect.This would have to be allowed for.Thus anelevator would be strongly pushed to one side as it rose, and to the other side as it fell, by something called the Coriolis force.These pressures would have to beallowed for in the design, and settlers would be acclimated to the feeling.Earth-people, when subjected to this on their tourist settlements, would find it as difficult to getused to this as landlubbers would to the pitching of a small vessel at sea.On the other hand, changes in gravitational effect would have their uses.Mountain-climbing on a settlement (on the larger ones, mountains a mile or two in height couldeasily exist) would be a delightful exercise.There would be neither snow, nor cold, nor thin air, and the higher you went the weaker the gravitational effect is likely tobe, so the easier it would be to go still higher.Of course the element of danger would be gone to a large extent, but most people wouldn't mind that.Ballgames of all sorts would require new skills if played under lower gravity.Balls would arc higher, come down more slowly; on the other hand, so would players.There would be a slow-motion grace to tennis, for instance, and a longer period of suspense while you wait for a slowly rising racket to meet a slowly rising ball overlarger playing fields.322 Life on a Space SettlementAt zero gravity, games would gain a total three-dimensionality.There would be air-hockey, in which the goals would be six in number at the ends of an invisibleoctahedron (or eight at the ends of an invisible cube).Players would have to swim through the air in pursuit of a ball.Each player might be outfitted with "keels" alonghis back and abdomen to give stability and keep him, or her, from tumbling when he, or she, tried to move.There would be "fins" on arms and legs to make air-swimming more efficient.No doubt it wouldn't be easy.The same with dancing, particularly ballet, under these conditions.Or trapeze work.Or flying for the fun of flying.Or calisthenics.Or playing tag.Or just horsingaround.All this is bound to be a wonderful sensation, beloved by all settlers.There would be areas reserved in every settlement for people who want to play or fly at zero ornear-zero gravity.Children would probably learn to fly as early as they learn to walk.(Children may try to fly or walk under inappropriate gravity conditions at first andbe frustrated, but they will learn.)Low-gravity swimming and diving into water would also have its special fun and skill.And, for that matter, so would low-gravity sexual activity. his back and abdomen to give stability and keep him, or her, from tumbling when he, or she, tried to move.There would be "fins" on arms and legs to make air-swimming more efficient.No doubt it wouldn't be easy.The same with dancing, particularly ballet, under these conditions.Or trapeze work.Or flying for the fun of flying.Or calisthenics.Or playing tag.Or just horsingaround.All this is bound to be a wonderful sensation, beloved by all settlers.There would be areas reserved in every settlement for people who want to play or fly at zero ornear-zero gravity.Children would probably learn to fly as early as they learn to walk.(Children may try to fly or walk under inappropriate gravity conditions at first andbe frustrated, but they will learn.)Low-gravity swimming and diving into water would also have its special fun and skill.And, for that matter, so would low-gravity sexual activity.At all times, to be sure, there would be the danger of misjudging the true effect of weightlessness.While weight might be little or zero, mass and inertia would notchange.A tumble from a height, or an unguarded collision with a wall, can bruise, cut, or even break a bone, regardless of how light we feel.Settlers will learn that earlyin life.Tourists from Earth on their tourist-settlements would have to be carefully indoctrinated and even so there will be occasional accidents.The low-gravity activity would, more than anything else, distinguish life on a settlement from life on the constant-gravity environment of Earth.And that low-gravityactivity would have its uses.In addition to being fun and adding to the interest and joy of life, it would keep bodies fit even in the soft, high-technology life of thesettlements.What's more, since so much of the serious work of the settlers would be on the low-gravity surface of the moon, or under zero-gravity conditions in space, the low-gravity play would prepare the body for low-gravity work.One more thing.Would the settlers have goals that Earth-people don't?Yes.To Earthmen, getting off the planet and into space would be a hard task, both physically and psychologically.To settlers, it would be easy; space-travel would bea "natural." To the settlers, there would be the goal of moving out to the asteroid belt where there would be more room for settlements and more easily availablematerial for building them.There would be the desire to explore the vastness of the outer solar system on long trips that the settlers could endure and Earth-people could not [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]