“What if my fictional world were four times larger than Earth?” That is the question I asked myself one day. I started wondering what would change, and I was surprised by how enormous those changes would be. In this article, I’ll describe what such a world could look like and why mine will not be like that.
An Intriguing Idea
While working on the next stage of the project, I was thinking about the world map. I wanted it to be large, so I considered making the planet bigger. The idea seemed great to me — I would have much more land, which would mean more states, more cultures, and generally more things happening. However, I asked myself: “How exactly would making the planet bigger affect life?” I looked at the issue from several different angles and quickly realized that life on such a planet would be completely unrecognizable.
Earth x4 — The Changes
So, what could change if Earth were four times larger? Here are a few examples:
Gravity
If the size of the planet increased, its mass would also increase, and with it, the force of gravity. It seems like a simple change, but it would have far-reaching consequences.
The Earth’s Core
It’s possible that the structure of Earth’s core would change from liquid to something more solid. As a result, the magnetic field protecting us from solar radiation could weaken. It cannot be ruled out that the field would be too weak and that the atmosphere — and the planet’s surface — would be scorched by the Sun, making the development of life as we know it impossible.
Evolution
The evolution of living organisms would look different. Animals and humans would be more massive and shorter, with greater bone mass and muscle mass, simply to withstand such strong gravity. In addition, any flying creatures could become rare or might not exist at all, because evolution would favor mass over slenderness and lightness.
The Atmosphere
The atmosphere would be thicker and denser. This could potentially lead to higher atmospheric pressure, different weather patterns, and slower evaporation of water vapor. In turn, that might cause higher surface temperatures and the formation of very hot deserts, especially deep inland and in places far from large bodies of water that could help regulate temperature. The climate would change enormously, perhaps making life deep inland impossible or limited, while living organisms would more strongly favor areas near water.
Human Life
Human life as a whole would look completely different. Running, walking, and even simply standing would be extremely difficult for an ordinary Earth human. Air travel might become impossible, as would tall buildings, because structures that were too high would collapse under their own weight. Even ordinary cars could become unusable. For transportation, people would need heavy, powerful machines.
Culture, politics, religion, technology, and many other things could develop very differently. Difficult travel would mean that people would travel less, which could lead to isolationist states. Technology might focus on exoskeletons and anything else that would help people cope with gravity more effectively. Buildings would be low and massive. Besides that, I suspect there would be far fewer people interested in recreational running.
The Idea for a New World
The concept sparked my imagination. I started inventing an entirely new world and wondering what life on such a planet would be like. I imagined a society in which unnecessary movement is viewed negatively. People might develop special methods and techniques for moving as efficiently as possible.
I was reminded of the Fremen from Dune, except that their culture would not revolve around conserving water, but rather conserving bodily energy. The Industrial Revolution could bring enormous possibilities, and life on this planet might begin to resemble our own more closely. Everyone would have their own exoskeleton, children would grow out of smaller versions, and eventually they would need to buy larger ones or get them modified. Maybe older children would receive a new, larger model and pass the old one down to younger siblings? The possibilities are endless.
I also thought about the problems such a society might face. Cities, states, and settlements could be somewhat “isolated” from one another simply because travel between them would be so expensive. Reaching the neighboring city on foot would be quite an expedition. People could also face genetic problems because of a too-small gene pool within a city or settlement, and they would have to come up with some solution. Maybe journeys and expeditions would take on an almost ritualistic sense of necessity? Taking on most, if not every, journey would be a major decision. And moving to another country or even another city? That would be a real rarity. Such a society would probably not travel far for vacations.
The world would look completely different. These would be entirely new realities, and such a world could be filled with all kinds of ideas. But this is something for a completely different project, because to me it feels too far removed from the world we know. It reminds me more of science fiction, and I do not want to create a sci-fi world. So, no short, massive people in exoskeletons.
What the Concept of a Four-Times-Larger Earth Taught Me
The idea of a four-times-larger Earth gave me a lot to think about. “Normal human life” would not feel “realistic” to me on such a large planet. An ordinary Earth human, without technological support, would not be able to function normally. For that reason, I abandoned the idea.
In the end, I am glad that I am sticking to the original assumptions of the project — including the idea that I want the planet I’m creating to have Earth-like conditions. The advantage of that limitation is greater coherence. It also helps me focus my creative effort more precisely. I know what I need to work on next.
Still, although I do not want to create a world that is too different, this unrealistic and impractical idea seemed incredibly interesting to me and inspired me to come up with more ideas that could enrich it. If I wanted to create a world out of such unrealistic ideas, I might risk losing coherence, but I think such a world would be very interesting. If it were about pure fun, then while building a world just for the sake of it, I would accept far more ideas. It might hold together only on artistic license, a piece of tape, and hope, but it would definitely be a lot of fun to create. Not all ideas can or should be implemented in my current project, but a part of me still wants to see them in action.
At one point, I considered creating such a larger world and describing life on it as if the world had normal Earth-sized dimensions. I thought about how I could bend the rules of realism for the sake of narrative and artistic expression. But then I realized that the original goal was to create a realistic world, and if I am already sticking to Earth-like physical laws, then I want to follow those rules here as well.
Summary
In the end, I will stick to Earth-like conditions and a planet of Earth-like size. However interesting the idea may have been, I want life in the world I am creating to be at least broadly similar to life on Earth. So this will not be a world of short, massive people with enormous bone structure and huge muscle mass.
I will not use the idea, but I did learn some interesting things from it.
And you? What do you think human life would look like on a planet four times larger than Earth?