Talk:Dyson sphere

In this article they mention in the beginning that a Dyson sphere is a structure built around a star to capture its solar energy. That's not worded right. You can only get solar energy from our star. No other star can create solar energy because we only call it solar energy because our star is named Sol. Energy from any other star is called stellar energy.Oldasshonky (talk) 09:46, 28 October 2024 (UTC)

I've removed the word 'solar' from the first sentence. MichaelMaggs (talk) 10:41, 28 October 2024 (UTC)

The name of our star in English is Sun. It is named Sol in Latin, and some other languages like Portuguese and Spanish. Tercer (talk) 10:48, 28 October 2024 (UTC)

Crafterstar has replaced the current redirect Dyson spheres in popular culture with a new article, and there have been several reverts and re-reverts. I'm bringing it here for discussion, as it's improper for a new article to be created without re-evaluating the consensus against it at Talk:Dyson_spheres_in_popular_culture#Merge_into_Dyson_sphere. My position is that we should not re-create such a new article, and that in any event the list isn't appropriate for Wikipedia as it amounts to an indiscriminate collection of fictional Dyson sphere mentions, contrary to WP:INDISCRIMINATE and MOS:POPCULT. MichaelMaggs (talk) 14:35, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

The content restored is way different than the version that was discussed, it seems. I rather keep it because years ago, I had used this page to get a few books to read, like Across a Billion Years. At least for me, it is worth as a reference for people to get a list, even if it is marginal in importance, to a point that people feel the need to remove it. Crafterstar (talk) 14:42, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

I might suggest TV Tropes as an WP:Alternative outlet for that purpose. They have an entry for Dyson spheres at https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DysonSphere. TompaDompa (talk) 14:27, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

The redirect Dyson shell has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 August 10 § Dyson shell until a consensus is reached. 9ninety (talk) 17:51, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

I feel like it should be mentioned somewhere that Freeman Dyson's original paper was almost certainly meant to be a parody making fun of the SETI project. I mean, he said in the paper that a hypothetical civilization could disasemble a gas giant like Jupiter to get the nescassary materials to make the sphere, which is an absurd claim. Additionally, this article cites George Dvorsky and his claim about the feasability of dyson spheres in the near future (an insane claim on it's face given that article was written in 2012 and no one has started any progress on the technology he theorized would be necessary to deconstruct mercury) despite the fact that Dvorsky isn't a physicist and doesnt know what he is talking about. furthermore any shell would collapse in on itself given its own gravitational pull. Afishient (talk) 15:01, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

The quote of Dyson calling it a "little joke" is already mentioned. While the original paper does not seem serious, do you have any sources interpreting the paper as criticism of SETI? Benedikt Schöps (talk) 18:33, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

I think Afishient just watched Angela Collier's latest video and came here to check like many others 193.170.104.180 (talk) 11:30, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

I guess this is a "death of the author" situation. As much as the Dyson Sphere was conceived as a joke, it has become much more than that through the works of fiction and mainstream awareness. However, I think that moving this tidbit to the second paragraph of the text wouldn't hurt. 2804:7F0:90C0:DA5D:6077:E2DE:AB72:BE29 (talk) 14:01, 29 September 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, i feel that moving Dyson's mention of the paper being a "little joke" should be earlier in the article. (also that the Dvorsky citation is not very informative about the actual feasability of creating a dyson sphere) Afishient (talk) 19:19, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

Added link to Angela Collier's video essay on YouTube and added "satirical" to the sentence on Dyson's paper in the intro. Maybe the article should have a section, explaining that Dyson himself didn't intend for the concept to be taken seriously? The Collier video essay goes into significant detail but I feel that a whole paragraph detailing the many humorous references in the paper should, perhaps, be supported by more than this single tertiary source.
— Black Walnut ^talk 07:57, 25 November 2025 (UTC)