Striving to be like 'Dr Otto Octavius'...

Hi there!

This time, we're waffling a little about astronomy, astrophysics and engineering aims...

"Doctor Octopus", besides being a prime example of "the Faustian Bargain", mightn't have been so mad after all, wanting to recreate the Sun. ("The power of the sun in the palm of my hand"). He's also a Prometheus figure, if his ideas had have paid dividends... though the character became more of a tragic Icarus figure in hindsight (he got too conceptually close to the Sun). 

With a little backcasting, support, perseverance and foresight, we realise Octavius's dream...  

surely, what better achievement could there be than one day, making a Star?

(what follows is speculative fiction)

Micro Dyson/Drexler Spheres: Applied Recreation of Stellar Nucleosynthesis

One of the greatest achievements of the human species undoubtably was the recreation and miniaturisation of stars. Since the dawn of time, human species had worshipped these mysterious stellar objects: the seemingly almighty and immortal things from which corpses we and all around us are formed.  

Preceding the innovation of miniaturised stars was the invention of the positronic brain (The  eventual outcome of Project Blue Brain, and foreseen by Asimov, Herbert and others) and the successful design of a preventative treatment program found by SENS Research Foundation which allowed all humans to become biologically immortal (a truly remarkable outcome in its own right, which also formed part of the Umpteenth Green Revolution for food production). The development of miniaturised stars also coupled with the development of the Atomic Resequencer to vastly improve the quality of life for all people everywhere. The Atomic Resequencer and Micro Dyson/Drexler Spheres, while not entirely rearranging the notions of supply and demand, significantly blunted the rate of scarcity (at least in the immediate term, for people... until Thermodynamics and Universe Atrophy can be overcome).  

The ability to understand and recreate one of the most powerful natural phenomena observed in the cosmos --- stellar nucleosynthesis --- had a profound implication for how human society organised itself, and enabled human society to leave the regrettable follies of history behind and concentrate instead on answering the big questions of reality. The recreation of a star enabled the development of the Alcubierre/Kaku/White warp-drive to become much more feasible. These miniaturised stars, known as micro-dyson/drexler spheres, utilised some key principles derived from 2nd generation M-Theory (a surprisingly simple 1 page equation "a grand theory of everything", a comprehensive understanding of reality derived from science).

The recreation of stars was essentially the only peaceful means (rather than contemplating a return to agrarian forms of subsistence known from Antiquity) for avoiding the many conflicts which potentially loomed in the early 21st Century, as earlier forms of energy became unsustainable from an ERoEI standpoint, and threatened a return to the misguided/misinterpreted form of 'survival of the fittest' and the Prisoners Dilemma. 

Humanity (women and men of science, young and old, from all identity paradigms and belief backgrounds) came together and instead diverted all possible resources to solving these few problems. This led to what was known as the Great Cheshire Cat era, where the economy was for a few years both dead and alive at the same time (an uncomfortable superposition state to be in). Crucially though, combinatorial materials science advanced after Project Blue Brain was completed and demonstrated to be a stable and viable concept... the advances there paved the way for the completion of the STAR project, just prior to the available materials and ERoEI window closing... 

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Due to my history, philosophy and sociology background... I think it'll be a really close call to get the above to actually happen.  I also don't know if the Sun can be miniaturised greatly, much less the ERoEI costs for actually creating a working prototype (or even what a prototype might be made from).

There again, those are the ultimate aims of science; understanding things better, to make life better for all...

The recreating of a star, and from there, traveling all around the universe while we can to answer the Fermi Paradox... or make the Encyclopedia Galactica. That's the ultimate purpose, otherwise it'd be hard to overcome the nihilistic and defeatist possibilities, and resign to acceptance of a short-term, profit based mentality. 

It'll take a monumental effort, and some interesting politics/philosophy to sidestep the human nature problem (just by sheer numbers, not everyone at 7 billion and counting will want to do these activities). I hope it happens though, and I support the scientists at the top and the people (farmers, producers, scientist's families) who make innovation happen.

What do you think?
How would you go about the process of recreating a Star? 

Do you know of any actual REAL existing projects to do this --- completely recreate a star?