Re: beanstalks (was Re: Metallic hydrogen ...)

From: Alain Fournier (alain245_at_sympatico.ca)
Date: 06/09/04 

Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 20:45:46 -0400

mmeron@cars3.uchicago.edu wrote:

> Between the and of the 15th century and the middle of the 19th, the
> number of continents known to mankind doubled. Since then it
> increased by, nothing. How much you project it'll increase in the
> next 100 years?

Cassiny/Huygens might discover a few continents on Titan
within a few months. After that I suspect there will be
a lull of several years. When we start finding continents
in other star systems we are going to have a big boom in
continent discovery. It is hard to say when that will happen
but I expect it to be in less than 100 years. In 100 years
I wouldn't be surprised if several thousand continents
were found.

> Extrapolating from past perfomance to future performance is a risky
> endevour.

That point remains true.

Alain Fournier

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