Also "writing characters named Miles"

There's a difference between calculating the necessary tensile strength of a chain and calculating how much energy would be required to make a chain of that tensile strength. For example, if an undiscovered element is required, does that mean it would need to be generated from nothing, so to speak, with a particle accelerator? How much energy would that take for a cosmically large chain? Or are we to assume that a massive asteroid composed entirely of this miracle material will simply pass Earth closely by?

Generally speaking, thought experiments need to yield useful conclusions before they're worth publishing. Even if your "mithril" could exist, this thought experiment doesn't even cover the question of whether this system of chains would yield enough energy to justify the amount of energy that would be spent creating and maintaining this cosmic-scale mechanism. And wouldn't the "biological organisms" be constantly spending colossal amounts of energy just to prevent these chains from ripping away from their anchor points?

And not all types of energy are equal. Energy needs to useful. Even if this system could be created at an energy profit, how would we harness that energy towards useful ends? Would the energy be used to somehow boil water to turn a dynamo to generate electricity? Does enough water even exist on Earth to be put to that purpose? We can currently cause fusion reactions if we want to, but the problem is harnessing them towards useful purposes. We don't need to invent an even bigger bomb.

Oh, I wasn't arguing in favor of the system. I was just pointing out that if one was to look for the mustache-twirling villains behind everything, they wouldn't find them at Blackrock. The people working at Blackrock are simply deluded enough to think that they can stave off the pension bomb forever if they just keep the numbers going up forever. As you rightly point out, the system isn't sustainable. But as long as the overall economic system doesn't get the drastic general overhaul that it needs (but that nobody has the stomach for), it'll remain a Nash Equilibrium whereby nobody can move to end it unless everyone does.

That's not a revolution.

The main problem is that investment funds need the constant growth in order to pay for people's pension. If you don't have index funds that return above a given yield, year on year, then there's no way for pensions to work because there aren't enough young people being born to work and pay taxes to support the older people's pensions. That's why every financial services company is pushed, hard, to return more and more profits. That's why governments don't regulate them harder: because they NEED the financial sector to be greedy on an epic scale, or else the economy doesn't work.

https://youtu.be/nBEgJZdd2BQ

SETH: "Shit, this is really gonna affect people."

WILL: "Yeah, it's gonna affect people like me!"

SETH: "No, no, real... real people."

WILL: "Jesus, Seth; listen, if you really wanna do this with your life, you have to believe you're necessary. And you are. People wanna live like this, in their cars, and their big fuckin' houses that they can't even pay for? Then you're necessary. The only reason that they all get to continue living like kings is 'cause we've got our fingers on the scales in their favor. I take my hand off? Well then the whole world gets really fuckin' fair, really fuckin' quickly, and nobody actually wants that. They say they do, but they don't. They want what we have to give them, but they also wanna, you know... play innocent, and pretend that they have no idea where it came from. Well, that's more hypocrisy than I'm willing to swallow, so fuck 'em. Fuck normal people. You know, the funny thing is, tomorrow, if all of this goes tits-up? They're gonna crucify us for being too reckless. But if we're wrong? And everything gets back on track? Well then the same people are gonna laugh 'til they piss their pants, 'cause we're gonna look like the biggest pussies God ever let through the door."

SETH: "You think we're gonna be wrong?"

WILL: "Nah, they're all fucked."

The whole world economy is based on a system whereby the global regions and demographics that Have, extract wealth and value from the regions and demographics that Have Not. And everybody here commenting on this post are Haves. Maybe not on the scale that some others are, but I know I certainly didn't have to walk several hours today just to get clean drinkable water. Given what some people are forced to do without despite how hard they work, I really shouldn't be able to afford the lifestyle I have for the amount of work I do. But I can, and that's because my government tilts the scales in my favor. And even I'm financially screwed compared to some other people! The only way to fix it is a complete overhaul, and nobody has the stomach for that.

Maybe? I honestly have no idea how intercontinental politics work in Star Trek but having diplomats between Earth nations by the time of the Federation seems as redundant as having diplomats between US states now.

Maquis. No "R".

A Marquis is a type of French nobleman, like the Marquis de Sade.

A Maquis is a French word for shrubland, which was the type of rough terrain that rural cells of the French Resistance hid in during WW2, which was why these rural cells gained the name the Maquis. This in turn inspired the resistance fighters in the demilitarized zone between the Federation and Cardassion Union, particularly in the Badlands.

So what you're saying is that The Menu is a documentary

That would matter in a criminal prosecution where guilt must be proven beyond all reasonable doubt. However in a civil suit, all the BBC needs to do is convince a jury.

Lupin (on Netflix, starring Omar Sy) is a pretty good French-language series.

There's also, obviously, the entire medium of anime, which is largely Japanese (with some Korean).

I dunno where his parents were from, but he was born in Mogadishu.