[qote]you would need a demented god with vastly more power than sense. [/quote]
Isn't having vastly more power than sense pretty much the default state of being for the vast majority of deities anyway?
And I very much suspect this construct
will require magic to be
habitable. Okay, so there's plenty of water, but in which
form? Without gravity I don't see
any of the traditional aquatic environments (seas, lakes, creeks, rivers etc) forming, so where would their aquatic lifeforms live? I also doubt that there's going to be much in the way of rain.
Airborne lifeforms should thrive, no more need to burn prodigous amounts of energy to defeat gravity, but how would land-dwellers cope?
Crops should be okay given those things have roots, assuming the asteroids have topsoil for them to grow in (and it actually stays on in zero g).
But what about, say, cattle? Those people have to eat.
Also, what would the
weather be like in a setup like this? The thing doesn't spin, so no nice even distribution of sunlight across the entire sphere.
Lastly, how are the locals fixed for resources? A planet's worth of minerals is a lot. A handful of asteroids-not so much. Granted, we're probably not talking 7 billion people here either but I still think it's a concern. Are there any fossil fuels or fissionables on the asteroids?
Just how many asteroids are there, and how big are they?