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Posted: 9/6/2026 3:30:03 PM EDT
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Suppose we discovered a star gate like portal to an earth like planet 10,000 light years away. It was explored by a small group of scientists who discovered that it would accept only one more transit. Earth is interested in establishing a self sufficient colony that could create spacecraft. If we were able to drive 1000 shipping containers through the portal, along with 1000 people, what would we need in those boxes to take an earth like planet (which has no sentient inhabitants) into the space age? |
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Thought experiment on what a community would need to start from scratch. It’s akin to the train of thought of survivalist communities trying to plan for a post nuclear apocalypse future… You’re eventually going to need to produce your own crops and livestock, your own antibiotics, your own metal, plastic, electricity, electronics, etc. But this means petroleum refineries, mining operations, forges and glass manufacturing, industrial production of everything… |
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ZAF
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Originally Posted By WYPete: Thought experiment on what a community would need to start from scratch. It’s akin to the train of thought of survivalist communities trying to plan for a post nuclear apocalypse future… You’re eventually going to need to produce your own crops and livestock, your own antibiotics, your own metal, plastic, electricity, electronics, etc. But this means petroleum refineries, mining operations, forges and glass manufacturing, industrial production of everything… THIS maybe solar generators and panels Certainly seeds and embryos but Id want to start with enough MREs to feed the colonists for 20 years for time to grow and emergency rations during crop failure. Nobody thinks about necessary clothing until local production can start Building materials and TOOLs |
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900 of those containers need to be filled with books printed on archival paper with durable ink. 3 copies of each, in separate containers. One container with a primitive print shop that can reproduce those books for when a copy inevitably gets destroyed. 3 copies of each maintained AT ALL TIMES. Mostly scientific, technical, how to, etc. Minimal literature, just the classics. That leaves 99 containers for all the stuff to keep the colony alive until they can use the books to start building up. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
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Consider the needs to recreate a single motorized vehicle: mining equipment to find and extract basic elements. The smelting and forging process to refine minerals into usable metals. A micro oil refinery that produces all petroleum products. A steel mill to create all steel tools. Presses, dies, springs, etc… |
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Originally Posted By wvfarrier: Seeds for bio-fuels. 3D metal printers. Smart people. Less than smart people for grunt work. 1 entire trailer would need to be a functional hospital with the ability to produce meds. This colony is NOT going to maintain a first world existence. The goal should be to minimize the length of time spent as developing world. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
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Originally Posted By WYPete: Could we recreate civilization at the 1910 level of industrialization and then, with detailed knowledge about how we went from 1910 to now, slowly retrace our steps? |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
