Why havent we fully utilized underground space?

[Kmal]

What would be the benefits of it? What cons? It'd be especially convenient to implement it under ground large cities like new york or hong kong anyway, to minimize its effect on the earth. other places too, think of one big underground circuit between all countries. it'd have amusement parks and everything. how do you see that panning out? What would become of our society? Could we repair, or more likely rebuild the earth after its finished and livable? What do you think?

 

[Bollington]

I saw a program a while back where they were trying to build a house which needed no heating whatsoever, as it was virtually all underground, with just a south wall (basically just a window) exposed. It worked and was a fantastic idea, and thus I fully believe that all sorts of things could be built underground; however, the energy it took to build in the first place would surely tip the balance of the benefits received from having such a house.

Cities are another matter entirely, but I could could still see it happening in the future... I just think we're a fair way off!!

 

[Kmal]

[MENTION=5060]Bollington[/MENTION] Lets discuss the future! Would it be like a world government, refining the idealized version we have in reality? What would improve economically, for both the surface and the underground? What would improve culturally? Could we use it for further refining the arts? Science? Consciousness? What would not improve? How long would it take if a world-wide scale effort was made, creating plenty of jobs?

 

[This]

How would you keep the ceiling of an underground city from collapsing?

 

[Bollington]

[MENTION=5060]Bollington[/MENTION] Lets discuss the future! Would it be like a world government, refining the idealized version we have in reality? What would improve economically, for both the surface and the underground? What would improve culturally? Could we use it for further refining the arts? Science? Consciousness? What would not improve? How long would it take if a world-wide scale effort was made, creating plenty of jobs?

I think for it to work properly, it would have to run separately from the surface, and not some corporately-owned project. That said, you'd need a considerable investment to even begin to create such a world, so there would always be that danger, unless somehow it could become a scaled up community-owned build - a sort of partnership between everyone who would eventually live there.

I imagine there'd be some kind of cultural split between the two worlds, or at least a perceived split which would voice itself in the arts. The underground world might have the opportunity to break away from any constraints and try and express some new forms of art, or at least new ideas and new modes of presentation. There would obviously be a lack of natural light, so although it might be possible to create some form of light source which would replicate the effect of our beloved sun, I would suggest that this would promote different behaviours and a different culture among the underground people.

In terms of what wouldn't improve... well, there's always the potential that it would be just as bad as it is up here, just in different ways. Stupidity tends to multiply to the point of being exponential, as more and more people are in the equation. Thus, there's always the worry that there would be some kind of ludicrous power struggle, or even hostile interaction between the upper and lower worlds. Perhaps a new resource might be discovered, or the underground world might become some kind of political haven... who knows.

I say we still give this a go though!

 

[invisible]

for some time the technology has been available to fit the entire human population comfortably in a space the size of texas, building upwards. this sort of thing would be a lot better for the earth. it's just that people like their pretty lawns too much.

 

[Faye]

Basically, digging is difficult and creates a whole host of issues in maintenance. We have the technology to build cities underground, but it would be a waste of resources given the alternatives. What we really need to do is just to be ecologically conscious of where we build cities on the surface and try to minimize urban sprawl.

 

[Bird]

It is easier to build into thin air than to
dig cities out of stone and dirt.

 

[Bird]

for some time the technology has been available to fit the entire human population comfortably in a space the size of texas, building upwards. this sort of thing would be a lot better for the earth. it's just that people like their pretty lawns too much.

Hermia resents this.

 

[invisible]

oh, and we cant cooperate...

 

[Skarekrow]

Past a certain depth you would have to pump in oxygen...it would also be devastating if an earthquake were to occur.

 

[Kgal]

My ex and explored building a home underground here in humid east tx. It was going to be fairly expensive as we would be trying to get airflow into the home and condition the humidity out. I told him I could just see it now. Snakes tunneling out of the dirt right by the bedroom window. Fire ants building mounds all around us. Moles tunneling around right next to the skylights. Hard to kill shrubs sending tendrils and penetrating right through the insulating and water proofing layers we needed to put above the structure.

Now. Out west of us where the ground is different and the air is drier works wonderfully. Monolithic domes has had plenty of people build their homes underground. We have built two of these type homes - but they're above ground.

http://www.monolithic.com/stories/the-invisible-dome-home

http://www.monolithic.com/stories/underground-homes-good-or-bad

I could never get used to the idea of not being able to walk around my house and look out the windows.

This is similar to what I wanted...

 

[This]

Hmmm, now that I think about it an underground house with no windows seems very nice to me .

 

[Feelings]

If there's a fire, you're screwed. Or if somebody fucks with your entrance you could easily get boxed in.

The only relevant benefit that I see would be if you wanted to build a secret labyrinth underground with tunnels, and escape hatches. Nice little S&M dungeon down there. Or a top secret lab.

 

[Kgal]

Hmmm, now that I think about it an underground house with no windows seems very nice to me .

You'd turn into a mole without sunlight - you know. Unless you had skylights I suppose....

They are very safe, secure, and very hard to assess for taxes....

 

[Lerxst]

Those houses built in-ground with an exposed southerly wall are another form of an Earthship and they can come in pretty much any shape and size.

New York City has pretty much utilized a lot of its underground space, but there are a few problems building underground. One is the water table - once you hit that, everything will want to fill with water. Disrupting that water table for the purpose of building is a death sentence for every living thing that relies on that water. If you're thining on a global scale, that means risk of contamination for most of the world's water supply.

Another is exposing minerals, elements and materials that were not meant to be exposed... at least not without toxic repercussions. There are a lot of things buried underground that should really stay underground - uranium, oil, coal, etc. Even though we use those particular ones, look at the mess they've made on the surface.

Last is ventilation. Where are all the excess gasses we create going? I lived near Bisbee Arizona. There was an old copper mine they gave tours of out there. In less than 5 minutes the tour guide rattled off about a dozen hazards of living and working underground like those workers did. The only one he said that ine didn't have was a heat problem since the ventilation of the mountain it was built in pulled the air through, most underground mines would reach over100 degrees easily though.

An entire city underground would probably have weather about the equivalent of a Phoenix Summer, year-round... only with a lot of extra moisture thrown in and worse air quality!

 

[Bird]

As an aside my grandpa Miller totally dug an
outdoor cellar out of a hill in his backyard.
I loved it and thought it was the absolute
coolest thing when I was a young girl. He was
really crafty. I would like to have a room in
a hill with a window for my plants to sit in in
the winter time. I feel the atmosphere would
be conducive to their growth.

 

[the]

Most people wouldn't like living underground I guess. Plus all that shoring would be an eyesore. How we would get natural light to deeper and deeper underground levels would be problematic as well. People just enjoy plants, the above ground version. Mushrooms and moss just dont do it for me.

Also I imagine the Drow would be quite a hurdle.

 

[ZcM4xzkjgzCjytBc]

What we really need to do is just to be ecologically conscious of where we build cities on the surface and try to minimize urban sprawl.

Idealism

 

[Faye]

Idealism

Does everything have to be idealism if it isn't as shitty as humanly possible? It is absurd to imply that we cannot make improvements. We've been making them for a long time now.