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The idea that the travelers need to be people as we know them today is a huge assumption that should be jettisoned. As we improve medicine and merge with AI, w
by natch 8y ago
The idea that the travelers need to be people as we know them today is a huge assumption that should be jettisoned.
As we improve medicine and merge with AI, we should expect other changes to be possible, not just brain interface changes, but also body changes. Essentially we are still a version 1.0 and the iterations to new versions haven't even started yet... but these should be well underway in the timeframe of starting voyages to other stars.
Even for Mars, much closer obviously, we should think about whether it's easier to change body types in the medium term than it would be to terraform Mars to a desirable level.
- crooked-v 8y agoYou might like the Behrooz Wolf books by Charles Sheffield. The main scifi gimmick at the core is complete bunkum, but the books do a lot of exploration of extreme adaptations of the body for various environments, including other planets and the vacuum of space.
- stephengillie 8y ago> ...we should think about whether it's easier to change body types in the medium term than it would be to terraform Mars to a desirable level. This could be called bioforming[0][1] and here's an abstract for a paper that suggests modifying humans, alongside modifying Mars, to speed colonization.[2] [0] http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Bioforming http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Bioforming [1] http://terraforming.wikia.com/wiki/Bioforming http://terraforming.wikia.com/wiki/Bioforming [2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289486325_Bioforming_and_terraforming_A_balance_of_methods_for_feasible_space_colonization https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289486325_Bioformin...