“God wants us to fulfill his promise to Abraham by investing in space travel, so that we can create at least one human settlement per star visible in the night sky.”
The energy requirements for moving human beings from Earth to any other star, in a time short enough that they could be adults when they left and of breeding age when they arrived, are impossibly large. I don't see how they can ever be overcome.
Hence the right thing to invest in is biology, to make humans last much longer, or biology + robots, so we can send robot ships equipped with a pile of frozen embryos on a 350,000 year journy to seed another star with life.
Perhaps this is why Abraham et al enjoyed such long lives. :-)
Personally, I'd keep the DNA on file and just synthesize it once the ship has arrived, less worry about radiation damage.
Depending on the level of AI you have, it might also be worth it to invent cryonics so you can quickly thaw a few decision makers once you arrive.
Assuming (plant) life is rare in the universe, you'd spend a lot of effort on terraforming.
Then there is the question how you would fund such an endeavor. Unless we fix aging, you won't even get funny cat videos back from the colony in your lifetime. So it would make sense that these efforts are for ideological or religious reasons.
If one assumes that the number of good candidate worlds is somewhat limited, different groups will likely target the same planets, so it would make sense to pack a few doomsday devices -- with obvious consequences.
Another consideration is the speed of tech development versus the travel time. First movers are likely to arrive at a fully settled planet due to some breakthrough 200 years after their expedition started.
I am still not sure how this is tied to the Berkeley Meetup, however.
I do, but then I assume the human race has more than one generation of technological and economic development ahead of it. There are books on the subject, but the TL, DR answer for the stated goal and no special constraints is beamed power propulsion, possibly supplemented by magnetic drag for braking.
I've attended a zoom meeting with hundreds of participants before - you can have up to 1,000 participants join by video. If its organized well, it can be successful. Would require good moderation by Scott or someone he assigns.
I had never seen gather.town before - that's a cool concept. Has the downside of requiring payment from each user after 25 users however - which could be a turnoff for some (I personally would consider it however). I might see if some friends want to try a session of that, thanks for the recommendation!
Don't go. It'll be full of berks.
at least one of them better be called 'lee'
General Berk Lee
Good idea, bad idea?
“God wants us to fulfill his promise to Abraham by investing in space travel, so that we can create at least one human settlement per star visible in the night sky.”
The energy requirements for moving human beings from Earth to any other star, in a time short enough that they could be adults when they left and of breeding age when they arrived, are impossibly large. I don't see how they can ever be overcome.
Hence the right thing to invest in is biology, to make humans last much longer, or biology + robots, so we can send robot ships equipped with a pile of frozen embryos on a 350,000 year journy to seed another star with life.
Or make a ship capable of a multigenerational journey.
Laser sail + Bussard brake doesn't seem totally ridiculous once you have access to off-planet solar power.
And if black holes do violate baryon number, then obviously all bets are off.
Slow & large travel combined with perfect cryostasis seem like an obvious solution.
Perhaps this is why Abraham et al enjoyed such long lives. :-)
Personally, I'd keep the DNA on file and just synthesize it once the ship has arrived, less worry about radiation damage.
Depending on the level of AI you have, it might also be worth it to invent cryonics so you can quickly thaw a few decision makers once you arrive.
Assuming (plant) life is rare in the universe, you'd spend a lot of effort on terraforming.
Then there is the question how you would fund such an endeavor. Unless we fix aging, you won't even get funny cat videos back from the colony in your lifetime. So it would make sense that these efforts are for ideological or religious reasons.
If one assumes that the number of good candidate worlds is somewhat limited, different groups will likely target the same planets, so it would make sense to pack a few doomsday devices -- with obvious consequences.
Another consideration is the speed of tech development versus the travel time. First movers are likely to arrive at a fully settled planet due to some breakthrough 200 years after their expedition started.
I am still not sure how this is tied to the Berkeley Meetup, however.
>I don't see how they can ever be overcome.
I do, but then I assume the human race has more than one generation of technological and economic development ahead of it. There are books on the subject, but the TL, DR answer for the stated goal and no special constraints is beamed power propulsion, possibly supplemented by magnetic drag for braking.
Any chance at some point we could do a global zoom meetup event of some kind?
I'm not sure Zoom is the right platform here unless you expect less than ten people to attend. Something like https://www.gather.town/, maybe?
I've attended a zoom meeting with hundreds of participants before - you can have up to 1,000 participants join by video. If its organized well, it can be successful. Would require good moderation by Scott or someone he assigns.
I had never seen gather.town before - that's a cool concept. Has the downside of requiring payment from each user after 25 users however - which could be a turnoff for some (I personally would consider it however). I might see if some friends want to try a session of that, thanks for the recommendation!
I appreciate the "who" part of your invitation; makes me feel at home here.