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Human interstellar travel

Started by GSOgymrat, March 05, 2015, 10:15:26 AM

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Unbeliever

For the same reasons I don't think any extraterrestrials will ever visit Earth. Just too damn much energy required, along with truly vast distances.

Besides, unless ETs are pretty close, they won't even know we exist any time soon. Most likely they're many hundreds or even thousands of light years away, and our light-cone only expands at lightspeed.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

aitm

My understanding and correct me if I am wrong, but without a good degree of gravity our body structure starts to deteriorate. The bones start to fail and we may turn back into a non-skeletal mass…..or something similar in more sciency language.
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Hydra009

Quote from: aitm on March 10, 2015, 09:39:31 PMMy understanding and correct me if I am wrong, but without a good degree of gravity our body structure starts to deteriorate. The bones start to fail and we may turn back into a non-skeletal mass…..or something similar in more sciency language.
AFAIK, the primary threat (besides radiation) is loss of bone and muscle mass.  Given the problems of just staying on the ISS for a few months, traveling to Alpha Centauri might be problematic.

Gawdzilla Sama

And thus it came to pass that the Western Hemisphere was never explored because the balance sheet just didn't look favorable.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Unbeliever

Quote from: aitm on March 10, 2015, 09:39:31 PM
My understanding and correct me if I am wrong, but without a good degree of gravity our body structure starts to deteriorate. The bones start to fail and we may turn back into a non-skeletal mass…..or something similar in more sciency language.

If the energy problems could be solved, simply spinning the spacecraft can provide enough artificial gravity to make it livable. Or an acceleration of one Earth gravity or less could be used.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Gawdzilla Sama

We could just hibernate during the trip. Less complex engineering. Generation ships are slave ships.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

AllPurposeAtheist

 :Forget it. Our current US Congress won't even fund health care or infrastructure improvements much less NASA or even solar energy research and the idea of even getting beyond earth's gravitational pull is tantamount to pulling teeth from a pissed off lion..
Nope. The ONLY WAY is to convince them that we've discovered heaven and we have to invest trillions on getting there and even then only the pious would get to go. Say your prayers.. :pray:
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

stromboli

I think that in  the end it will be more about seeing what we can achieve and what we find when we get there. I think Mars will happen because it is within reach and we can get there, albeit what happens after is another story. I honestly don't think it makes sense either, but that never stopped us in the past. :biggrin:

Mining the asteroids has real possibilities, in my opinion. And Mars or the moon could serve as a way station for transit, should that ever come to pass.

Gawdzilla Sama

I think we should mine the asteroid just to show the "Independence Day" aliens where they fucked up.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

stromboli

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on March 11, 2015, 09:32:03 PM
I think we should mine the asteroid just to show the "Independence Day" aliens where they fucked up.
:biggrin:

Watch the video that Solitary posted. Presents a good argument for mining the asteroids.


trdsf

I think we'll go to the stars, but not any time soon.  This is a project for a millennium, not for the lifespan of a presidential or prime ministerial administration, and we're not organized enough as a species for something that long-term.  And we won't start moving out until the moon and Mars are thoroughly colonized, maybe some of the asteroids hollowed out and made into habitable environments internally.  And by colonized, I mean to the stage where it doesn't strike anyone as odd that people live there and vacationing or even emigrating there is feasible for the average person.

So, no time soon.  But the fact is, if we don't leave Earth, we (or our successor species) will go extinct -- even if we manage to avoid the statistically inevitable large meteor strike, or the detonation of Yellowstone or Toba or one of the other supervolcanos (or the reignition of the Siberian Traps or other large igneous province), or a resistant pandemic, or a nearby (galactically speaking) supernova... ultimately, the sun is finite, and will eventually destroy the Earth and if we haven't left by then, it will be too late.

I'm not sure that any individual nation-state could mount a robotic expedition to even the (relatively) nearby  α Centauri system.  It's going to require international coöperation and commitment to space and science on a completely unprecedented scale.

Long and short of it: I honestly believe that if it were discovered that there's an extinction-level comet or asteroid heading our way, with an impact date of fifty years or less, we're doomed.  It'll be "When Worlds Collide"... except without the rocket taking off at the end.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Atheon

All we need to do is invent the Warp Drive!
"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." - Seneca

trdsf

"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: Atheon on March 12, 2015, 03:09:30 AM
All we need to do is invent the Warp Drive!
Enough of us are warped to such an extent that this just might work.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Youssuf Ramadan

Quote from: Johan on March 05, 2015, 07:46:50 PM
You're not wrong. When you get right down to it, we are animals. Savages really. We are genetically wired to want to band ourselves together into groups and then kill or otherwise control every other group we can find. These genetics can of course change over time. But these changes happen at the speed of evolution which is orders of magnitude slower than the speed at which we develop and use new technologies.

Which means we are almost certain to invent and produce a weapon that will easily and effectively drive our species and most others into extinction long before evolution bestows us with the genetic wiring required to keep us from ever building such a weapon much less using it.

In short, we're fucked. Truth be told, we were probably fucked the moment that first primate realized hitting your enemy in the head with a rock was more effective than using your fists.

The good news is in the mean time, we've got beer and sex. If you can't get off the train, you may as well enjoy the ride.

That's pretty much my take on it too.