Is Civilization A Bad Idea?

[The Dharma Bum]

besides if we did reach escape velocity and were able transcend the bond to our natural habitat to become a spacefaring species humanity would essentially become a naturally occurring species of Von Nuemann machines

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine

[Spider]

[The Dharma Bum]

no its not

the only planets we can reach are dead planets in our solar system. none are suitable for a long term, self sustaining colony

it has to be a planet with a similar biosphere and resources to Terra and we don't know where one like that is, much less have the means to reach it

maybe we can build a small station on mars or something but that isn't going to save humanity, rather 7 or 8 guys will die on mars while the rest of humanity dies on the earth.

To be viable it has to have a biosphere, resources, and be reachable by a large number of humans with a large amount of resources on board. We don't have vehicles that are any where near that capability nor do we know about a suitable planet that we could even have a hope of reaching.

[Spider]

All of those assumptions are wrong. And never is a very long time.

Unless of course your definition of viability is being able to have a pickup soccer game in the open Martian air on day one.

Hell, it doesn't even have to be a planet at all. Just a massive habitat sitting at a lagrange point, or orbiting a planetary body for easier access to resources. A hollowed out asteroid, even. Any permanent habitats on other worlds in this system would obviously be controlled environments, probably buried, and probably highly unpleasant to start.

It would be a centuries long process of colonization, infrastructure building, and technological development...and it would take a long time before a colony would be able to wean itself from economic and material ties to Earth. But it would of course be doable eventually.

The technology to get started already exists, is already in use, and has been field proven for half a century. What we don't have is an urgent enough necessity to get started and get funding flowing.

That things are easier on Earth doesn't mean that things are impossible off of it.

[The Dharma Bum]

[Southern Dad]

[Philly]

If we have another billion years til earth gets sucked into the sun id say we can hollow out all the asteroids we want for the sake of advancement and innovation but dharma is right that it's not really part of finding a long term solution. And we have lots of time to find one.

[The Dharma Bum]

he just admitted it would take centuries to develop the means to colonize other planets IF WE MASTER SUPERLUMINAL SPACE FLIGHT, which might not even be possible

that means we don't have the technical means to colonize another planet

and centuries is far too long to make a difference

time to quit shitting where we live and grow up

[The Dharma Bum]

[Philly]

Well the point being if this is a project that will last hundreds of years it would be silly to assume we would rely on current technology.