>For anything urgent, it would need to be dealt with without calling back home - whether that is disease, local war (e.g. within the star system) Exactly. Alas

>For anything urgent, it would need to be dealt with without calling back home - whether that is disease, local war (e.g. within the star system) Exactly. Alastair Reynolds painted an intersting view for such a furure in his "Revelation Space" series. Including biological and cultural diversification into several human species.