
What Would an Alien Megastructure Look Like? Ringworlds with Larry Niven and Gregory Benford
From John Michael Godier's Event Horizon by John Michael Godier
June 1, 2026 · 51 min
About this episode
The episode explores the concept of alien megastructures through the lens of hard science fiction with insights from authors Gregory Benford and Larry Niven.
From both Gregory Benford and Larry Niven comes a thrilling, hard science fiction series, Bowl of Heaven, that follows a human expedition to another star system that’s suddenly interrupted by a gigantic artifact floating in interstellar space. The bowl-shaped structure engulfs an entire star, and has a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths.Gregory Benford is a physicist, educator, and award winning author. Larry Niven is an award winning author, best known for his book Ringworld.Link:Bowl of Heaven (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3r5AWJOGravitational Wave Transmitter: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1806.02334.pdfWant to support the channel?Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EventHorizonShowFollow us at other places!Website: https://www.eventhorizonshow.com/@jmgeventhorizonMusic featured on Event Horizonhttps://stellardrone.bandcamp.com/https://migueljohnson.bandcamp.com/https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/https://aeriumambient.bandcamp.com/FOOTAGE:NASAESA/HubbleESO - M.KornmesserESO - L.CalcadaESO - Jose Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)NAOJUniversity of WarwickGoddard Visualization StudioLangley Research CenterPixabay
People in this episode
Host: John Michael Godier
Guests: Gregory Benford, Larry Niven
Topics covered
- alien megastructures
- hard science fiction
- interstellar artifacts
- human expeditions
- Bowl of Heaven
- Ringworld
Keywords
- alien megastructure
- Bowl of Heaven
- Ringworld
- Gregory Benford
- Larry Niven
- science fiction
- interstellar space
- habitable area
- human expedition
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NASA, ESA, Hubble, ESO, University of Warwick, Goddard Visualization Studio, Langley Research Center, Pixabay
Books & works: Bowl of Heaven, Ringworld
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