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Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

Orbital Bombardment (Narration Only)

Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

Isaac Arthur

Technology, Energy Abundance, Future Of Humanity, Spacecraft, Genetics, Space Infrastructure, Scifi, Post Scarcity, Sci Fi, Technological Future, Interstellar Travel, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Space Station, Space, Long Term Future, Human Civilizaiton, Civilizaiton, Cybernetics, Science, Futurism, Space Megastructures, Space Colonization, Space Industry, Future Philosophy, Transhumanism, Spaceship, Megastructures, Physics, Starship, Astronomy, Future

4.9782 Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

They say you should always attack from the high ground, and there's no higher ground than from orbit. Today we'll examine orbital strikes, asteroid bombardment, kinetic weapons, dropships, and how to defend from them. Watch the Video Version: https://youtu.be/LolF5iI3xEs Go to https://buyraycon.com/isaacarthur for 15% off your order! Brought to you by Raycon. Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IsaacArthur Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583992725237264/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IsaacArthur/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_A_Arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: https://discord.gg/53GAShE Check out Peter Garretson's work: Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space https://www.amazon.com/dp/1498583113/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_HK0PTVKG08VM0GK11J7Z https://cdn.afresearchlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/27223753/State-of-the-Space-Industrial-Base-2020-Report_July-2020_FINAL.pdf Credits: Orbital Bombardment Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur Episode 278; February 18, 2021 Produced, Written, and Narrated by Isaac Arthur Editors: Jason Burbank Jerry Guern https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxgArWbEhZg Mark Warburton PhoneticFailure Cover Art: Jakub Grygier https://www.artstation.com/jakub_grygier Graphics: Darth Biomech https://www.artstation.com/darth_biomech Katie Byrne Ken York https://www.facebook.com/YDVisual/ LegionTech Studios https://hades9.com SpaceRecourcesCGI Udo Schroeter Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello, SFIA audio listeners. In this month's Nebula exclusive, big alien theory,

0:05.2

we're asking the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.

0:10.5

To hear it and every episode early and ad-free, plus hours of bonus content,

0:15.1

check out go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.

0:20.3

This episode is sponsored by Raycon.

0:23.3

To paraphrase Ellen Ripley of aliens, sometimes you need to nuke the entire site from orbit,

0:28.9

it's the only way to be sure.

0:31.6

So today we are returning to our space warfare and future warfare series, looking at orbital bombardment, something that

0:38.4

might come into play as a regular weapon of war in the next century, and we'll be looking

0:42.5

at that in a few weeks too, with an episode on the next century of war.

0:47.1

At the time I'm writing this, near the end of 2020, I just had occasion to give a guest

0:51.5

lecture and talk at the US Air Force Academy and

0:54.5

unsurprisingly it got me thinking on the future of warfare again, particularly its progression

0:58.6

into orbital space.

1:00.4

On the personal side, it reminded me that it's been a decade since I left the Army and two

1:04.5

decades since my first time working for the military as a research intern for the Air Force

1:09.1

at AFID back when I was 19 in my senior year

1:12.0

as a physics major at KSU.

1:14.4

A few years later, I left grad school where I'd been working toward a PhD in theoretical

1:19.0

physics to enlist in the U.S. Army where I finished out that decade.

1:22.8

At the time, there been a lot of talk of going to the moon again and the urgency of replacing

1:26.6

our shuttle program, neither of which has since happened, and it reminds me of a popular expression

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