Thanks for bringing up the definition. So for example, a different planet where the isotope mix for uranium is different, so that weapons grade u-235 rocks can be commonly found, would face the black marble problem.
Someone could learn how to bang the rocks together and form a critical mass with cannon technology, maybe less - just enough machining so the 2 masses make good contact and free fall might be enough to get an explosion.
So in some medieval or pre industrial revolution era, small fission bombs get used and technology cannot advance past this point because people keep setting off fission bombs until they destroy so much infrastructure and information they forget how to do it. Then a few generations later, someone rediscovers the method, perhaps by leftover writing or artifacts, and so on. Or alternatively every city has to be too small to be worth a nuke, and nobody bothers with castles, it's all mobile forces.
Either way it seems like a bottleneck on city size or technology.
It is possible no black marbles will ever be drawn for technology on earth before humans spread out past the earth, preventing this problem.
Thanks for bringing up the definition. So for example, a different planet where the isotope mix for uranium is different, so that weapons grade u-235 rocks can be commonly found, would face the black marble problem.
Someone could learn how to bang the rocks together and form a critical mass with cannon technology, maybe less - just enough machining so the 2 masses make good contact and free fall might be enough to get an explosion.
So in some medieval or pre industrial revolution era, small fission bombs get used and technology cannot advance past this point because people keep setting off fission bombs until they destroy so much infrastructure and information they forget how to do it. Then a few generations later, someone rediscovers the method, perhaps by leftover writing or artifacts, and so on. Or alternatively every city has to be too small to be worth a nuke, and nobody bothers with castles, it's all mobile forces.
Either way it seems like a bottleneck on city size or technology.
It is possible no black marbles will ever be drawn for technology on earth before humans spread out past the earth, preventing this problem.