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NOt going to happen until we find a substitute for our puny, needy, bodies.
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Hell yeah. But from a self-preservation of the species POV. Extinction level events happen all the time. Exploding Suns. Meteors. Asteroids. Hell, maybe even malicious aliens. We need to expand our horizons. Increase the odds of the human species continuing on into perpetuity. And technology improvements are a worthwhile byproduct of the effort.
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Wow there are so many red herring fallacies in this thread. As much as I think exploration is good, the answer for humanity is not landing on other planets or getting to other solar systems. We live in a fallen universe because we're sinful, and redemption from sin is not available in a "geographic cure." Human dignity comes from the fact that we are created in the image of our Creator. View Quote WTF does redemption from sin have to do with getting off this dirt ball? The comet from deep space that is going to wipe out the planet has little care for your sins, or anything else. We are not trying to save anyone's soul for the after life. We are trying to save the species so there will be more souls for you to save for the after life. |
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I don’t like to make assumptions like that. We only have a sample of ONE - which means that generalization is impossible. We THINK we have intelligence, but we may not really even know what it means. In the same way that some apes have rudimentary intelligence (in terms of learning simple words, commands, etc.) they CANNOT comprehend what our intelligence is like. They are completely unable to grasp things like syntax, mathematics, etc. By the same token, we may be simply apes to someone who has “real” intelligence, and we may be completely unable to comprehend what it is. I mean, we’re cute and all, but there’s no actual evidence that we’re something special. That is merely a self-serving conclusion we’ve reached because it makes us feel good about ourselves. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Based on what are you assuming that the human mind is something special? Wouldn't you agree? We only have a sample of ONE - which means that generalization is impossible. We THINK we have intelligence, but we may not really even know what it means. In the same way that some apes have rudimentary intelligence (in terms of learning simple words, commands, etc.) they CANNOT comprehend what our intelligence is like. They are completely unable to grasp things like syntax, mathematics, etc. By the same token, we may be simply apes to someone who has “real” intelligence, and we may be completely unable to comprehend what it is. I mean, we’re cute and all, but there’s no actual evidence that we’re something special. That is merely a self-serving conclusion we’ve reached because it makes us feel good about ourselves. |
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The shitty part, would be to get to a new place, struggle to make it work, and then have it be wipes out by an asteroid too. Lol. View Quote |
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Well, we have some time to figure that problem out. But not forever. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Unless we are able to go many times the speed of light, if it's even theoretically possible, we can't even get out of this solar system, let alone survive out there. It took Voyager 1 35 years to reach interstellar space, and it only happened that quick because a rare alignment of the planets allowed it to slingshot it's way to a velocity of 11 Mi/s. |
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Unless we are able to go many times the speed of light, if it's even theoretically possible, we can't even get out of this solar system, let alone survive out there. It took Voyager 1 35 years to reach interstellar space, and it only happened that quick because a rare alignment of the planets allowed it to slingshot it's way to a velocity of 11 Mi/s. |
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If there is intelligent life beyond this planet it's not too hard to believe that something, somewhere else, is far more advanced than human beings. It's in the nature of man to seek and discover, so science will continue to gather more knowledge of what's beyond our planet and further explore the cosmos as time passes. Being extraterrestial and living on another planet may not become an option before we either destroy this planet by our own hand, get hit by an asteroid, gamma ray bursts, or a supernova explosion. Then there's the possibility of aliens killing us all.
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I think that comes back to what OP is saying: maybe we are the retards of the universe... but what if we aren't? It'd be a damn shame to not even try, and let our uniqueness go extinct. I agree we have something special; no other creature that we are aware of comes close to our intelligence and adaptability. Can't fly like birds? Invent airplanes, and even space craft that can go far higher than any bird could. Can't run like horses? Invent vehicles that go many times faster than even the fastest horse. Can't swim like fish? Invent SCUBA and submarines. You get my point: we, uniquely of all beasts, can invent, but even more importantly, visualize, in our minds' eye, what we need to build to make all these things happen. That is something special; an ape cannot conceive of being anything but an ape. And, IMHO, that is worth saving. Only governments can afford this. Space travel, if it is to work, needs to be done on a LARGE scale; otherwise, you're just jacking off. The Apollo program would have bankrupted any business. If you're going to make interstellar flights, it's going to take the combined effort of the entire human race. No one country, and certainly no one business, is going to be able to afford that. Too, there is one glaring weakness of the capitalist system. Don't get me wrong, I'm a devout capitalist, but by the very nature of the beast, if there is no clear profit to be made, there is no incentive for a business to take on such a monumentally expensive project. If you had left the Apollo program up to private business, we never would have gone to the moon. What's there? Rocks? How could you justify the multi-million dollar investment to your shareholders, just for a few bags of rocks and dust? View Quote And I never said anything about a single business taking it on. Joint ventures happen all the time in business. Government sucks and is extremely wasteful at EVERYTHING. Why do you think space is any different? |
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Unless we are able to go many times the speed of light, if it's even theoretically possible, we can't even get out of this solar system, let alone survive out there. It took Voyager 1 35 years to reach interstellar space, and it only happened that quick because a rare alignment of the planets allowed it to slingshot it's way to a velocity of 11 Mi/s. |
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DW swears I'm reptilian already, I get a scratch and it scabs overnight and falls off a few days later. Her, a month or so.
Plus I'm psycho. |
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Quoted: Not just religious beliefs, political ones as well; progressive liberalism, socialism, Marxism, Communism are just as much of an ebb to mankind's advancement as religious ideologies like Islam, they are not just restricting mans flow forward but pulling mankind backwards. View Quote |
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I'd had high hopes when the sci-fi show "Ascension" was coming out. I wanted to see some decent thinking around a generational colony ship concept, and looked forward to the thought discussions that might have followed. But alas it was a scam.
"Ascension" ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3696720/ Still a good idea. Hopefully somebody will eventually run with it. |
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There is a huge gap in the thread title.
We may need to spend centuries getting off this one rock and spreading across the solar system before targeting other stars. |
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until we can bend space time to fix the distance issue we arent going anywhere
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we are.
Star Shot But I think we should focus on exploiting the vast resources in our own system before we start thinking about human flights out of the system. There's more material wealth to be had in the asteroid belt than you or I can even imagine. The Moon would be a wonderful place to build factories and refineries. Mars too is a great place for factories as their waste gasses can be used to build up an atmosphere so it's thick enough for people to no longer need pressure suits. It may never get fully Earth like... but about 100 years is all that's needed to do away with pressure suits. Then some more warming and some choice bacteria and plants... we could get it pretty darn habitable and maintain that for a few hundred thousand years using existing technology. There's more water on Europa than on all of Earth. There's more methane on Titan than on all of Earth. Venus is tough... but there is a level within it's atmosphere where it isn't too hot... still very hot... but not instant death hot... where you could have floating cities... Lots of stuff to do in our own system... to build our civilization to the point where we could build the large ships that the long voyage between stars would need. |
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There is a huge gap in the thread title. We may need to spend centuries getting off this one rock and spreading across the solar system before targeting other stars. View Quote |
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We need to develop near light speed propulsion, sending droids to every corner of the galaxy with a message to extraterrestrial beings that we are willing to live the lives of chattel and whores in exchange for their superior technology to advance our own race.
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Well, we've started, honestly, by studying the effects of lengthy ISS missions on the human body. Once we can figure out how to protect permanent space stations and reproduce in space, we can begin evolving the species into a spacefaring race. And from there, we have to learn how to do it in deep space, far from the readily available energy of a star or planet. Getting to Mars should teach us a lot.
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Quoted: So far, it's the only evidence of something special. Wouldn't you agree? View Quote Plus, the logistics of getting somewhere else (ie..another star with inhabitable planets) within one human lifetime would be almost impossible. Our lights will go out when the sun's does, if not sooner. |
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I think that comes back to what OP is saying: maybe we are the retards of the universe... but what if we aren't? It'd be a damn shame to not even try, and let our uniqueness go extinct. I agree we have something special; no other creature that we are aware of comes close to our intelligence and adaptability. SNIP View Quote Long after we die I would imagine we might find out |
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How very short-sighted of you. See the post below yours: this planet will become the grave of our civilization. And it will be that, with the cancer and virus cures you wanted so much. View Quote Unless we figure out a way to overcome the physics problems, its a waste of time and money. How much air food and water can we lift into orbit and what does it cost to do so? I remember the figure of $10,000/pound. That's from a few years back, though, and I think SpaceX has lowered it, but even if it's 90% less, we're talking about $1,000/pound. Now we're going to lift an interstellar ship, fuel, colonists and all their necessary supplies for a trip of at least 40 trillion miles. Let's say this interstellar ship was the size of a modern navy destroyer, roughly 500 feet long. Google tells me that an Arleigh-Burke class ship ways 9200 tons. Not sure if that is with crew and provisions, but lets assume so. Let's also assume that whatever engine we're going to use for interstellar propulsion doesn't require any additional fuel. Let's also assume that we don't need to lift any additional air and can recirculate/filter water, so we don't need any more of that either. All we have to do to send our colony to the nearest star is lift 18,400,000 pounds into orbit for the low cost of $18 billion. That's just the lift cost! As a comparison, the international space station cost over $180 billion to build. I would expect any attempt at interstellar human travel to cost trillions, given where we're at today. We're so far from this technology wise it isn't funny. I understand. People are worried about the future of the planet, and there are potential ways for the entire planet to die. My only point is that there are more immediate concerns to spend our energy on that are graver, and that we have a reasonable chance to affect. If someone is proposing to take more of my money, I'd chose it go to those things. Now, if someone discovers technology that makes the physics possible, I'll be much more open to the idea. In the meantime, I'd like to spend my money on things that are important to me. You can do the same. |
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Forget religion, forget UFO's, and bigfoot. None of that is real. Forget all of the mythologies. What's really amazing is the human mind. It's worth saving. It's worth spreading out into the unknown. It can't die here. Do you agree? View Quote https://www.ar15.com/forums/General/NY-Times-just-admitted-UFOs-are-real-And-that-we-have-an-active-DOD-Investigation-into-the-phenome/5-2061778/ |
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Forget religion, forget UFO's, and bigfoot. None of that is real. Forget all of the mythologies. What's really amazing is the human mind. It's worth saving. It's worth spreading out into the unknown. It can't die here. Do you agree? View Quote |
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“And the meek shall inherit the Earth”, the rest of us will go to space.
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No.
Get back to me after: -We have paid off the national debt. -Have gotten tens of millions of entitled motherfuckers to start pulling their weight. -Convinced one billion Muslims to settle down and leave us in peace. |
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View Quote Any thing that anyone can't identify is a UFO. If you've identified it as aliens... it's no longer an Unidentified Flying Object. Of course the DOD had or has a UFO investigation... Those UFOs could be enemy spy planes and military incursions. I'd be severely disappointed by their dereliction of duty to Defend the Nation if they didn't have a UFO investigation. |
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Wow there are so many red herring fallacies in this thread. As much as I think exploration is good, the answer for humanity is not landing on other planets or getting to other solar systems. We live in a fallen universe because we're sinful, and redemption from sin is not available in a "geographic cure." Human dignity comes from the fact that we are created in the image of our Creator. View Quote The problem with religious moderates is the metaphors are terribly maladaptive for the same reasons they don't work literally. |
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I'd board a colony ship tomorrow if I had faith that it was legit and had a reasonable chance of success. Quoted:
In the sci-fi series "The Expanse" the Mormons were contracting construction of a generational colony ship (the "Nauvoo") until it got hijacked by terrorists. It was intended to travel to Tau Ceti. Intelligence's biggest problem--and the most important one to overcome--is its biological, and very material-dependent existence. Getting that squared away in ones head is fundamental in thinking in the very long term. On the other hand: if FTL turns out to be "Oh hell; it's so easy we should have seen the solution a long time ago," this animal will attend the first voyage. I'll even wear a red shirt. |
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Forget religion, forget UFO's, and bigfoot. None of that is real. Forget all of the mythologies. What's really amazing is the human mind. It's worth saving. It's worth spreading out into the unknown. It can't die here. Do you agree? View Quote The actions of humans will be important to humans and intelligences they encounter but ultimately it will mean nothing under your constraints as there will be nothing to assign any meaning without invoking something outside your constraints. |
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WTF does redemption from sin have to do with getting off this dirt ball? The comet from deep space that is going to wipe out the planet has little care for your sins, or anything else. We are not trying to save anyone's soul for the after life. We are trying to save the species so there will be more souls for you to save for the after life. View Quote |
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Quoted: This one is the avatar that I associate to @patchouli http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/lI71UDFi4M3UrmTzfHVAvA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/ymusic-video-gaga/FionaAppleOctopus.jpg View Quote |
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Not really. Look at all the war, hunger, crime...etc. Not really something to brag about. Plus, the logistics of getting somewhere else (ie..another star with inhabitable planets) within one human lifetime would be almost impossible. Our lights will go out when the sun's does, if not sooner. View Quote It's utterly fantastic. |
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The shoebox explorer that makes other explorers is the basis of a theory called "Von Neuman principal" basically lofting 1 animal is 1 energy unit, while lofting 1000 nickel size is the same amount of energy units. The 1 animal is unable to self sustain(cant breed with just one as you need air, water, infrastructure, is basically doomed to a short lifespan) the robot machines are completely viable for decades, centuries longer, more of them so they get sent out with the orders " stay alive, replicate explore, if you find a planet with XYZ atmosphere, build a radio tower and signal us" once the micro robots get to the asteroid belt and build 1000000 trillion copies of them selves, they then start out to basically EVERY possible star in 1000000 LY at top speed, (oh yeah did I mention they wont need to have the cushy 8 g sustained limit we do, they can easily do 16000 gg's, so a 50 mile long asteroid belt mounted rail gun, mounted on a 100 mile across ultra centrifuge, isn't actually that crazy, the AIMING would be a computer trick to be sure, but could be done) . Think large spinning wheel with "spokes" built out of rail guns, the rail guns START the acceleration about 1/2 way down the wheel and then continue spinning it faster AND accelerating using electro magnets and pulses down the whole rest of the way, like HOLY CRAP speeds. some physics guy will be along shortly to tell me that something wont work but the idea is pretty sound I think View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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I'd board a colony ship tomorrow if I had faith that it was legit and had a reasonable chance of success. Quoted:
In the sci-fi series "The Expanse" the Mormons were contracting construction of a generational colony ship (the "Nauvoo") until it got hijacked by terrorists. It was intended to travel to Tau Ceti. Intelligence's biggest problem--and the most important one to overcome--is its biological, and very material-dependent existence. Getting that squared away in ones head is fundamental in thinking in the very long term. On the other hand: if FTL turns out to be "Oh hell; it's so easy we should have seen the solution a long time ago," this animal will attend the first voyage. I'll even wear a red shirt. By all means-- scout for candidates. We need viable target worlds. |
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In spite of the negatives, the human brain is a way for the universe to look at itself and ask the deepest questions. Why are we here? How did this come about? What is our destiny? It's utterly fantastic. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Not really. Look at all the war, hunger, crime...etc. Not really something to brag about. Plus, the logistics of getting somewhere else (ie..another star with inhabitable planets) within one human lifetime would be almost impossible. Our lights will go out when the sun's does, if not sooner. It's utterly fantastic. |
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I need to get off this rock and to another stellar system that has a planet inhabited by lower primate-like aliens.
I need this so I can sire hybrid human/alien offspring on their planet. Do unto other aliens as other aliens have done unto us. These hybrids I sire will rule the Galaxy. Or, once out there, I could do something much more awesome than that. |
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We need to develop near light speed propulsion, sending droids to every corner of the galaxy with a message to extraterrestrial beings that we are willing to live the lives of chattel and whores in exchange for their superior technology to advance our own race. View Quote |
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If "the robots" are a creation of humanity they are at the same time an extension of humanity. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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But hopefully superior to us. View Quote We have the technology to make moving inside our own solar system relatively fast and cheap. Project Orion's ship is massive, is a robust, heavily constructed spacecraft, capable of moving tremendous mass at .1C. That's fast enough to move around our solar system fairly quick, and it's fast enough to reach some of the nearest stars in a lifetime, or two. If we don't want to use Orion for surface to orbit, due to the atmospheric nuclear explosions, we could use the Sea Dragon system design to launch all the components to assemble in orbit, and go form there. |
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Waste of time and money until we have a breakthrough that leads to a faster means of travel. If you're going to tax me to research something, how about curing cancer or effective virus treatments? Both are a more immediate threat to humans. If a bunch of you want to spend your own time and money on this privately, knock yourself out. View Quote |
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Wow there are so many red herring fallacies in this thread. As much as I think exploration is good, the answer for humanity is not landing on other planets or getting to other solar systems. We live in a fallen universe because we're sinful, and redemption from sin is not available in a "geographic cure." Human dignity comes from the fact that we are created in the image of our Creator. View Quote |
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The shitty part, would be to get to a new place, struggle to make it work, and then have it be wipes out by an asteroid too. Lol. View Quote |
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