4 ms·

Why is it always space? Space technology requires lots of energy and our society is currently in the middle of realizing that our current way of getting energy

by scythe 7y ago

Why is it always space? Space technology requires lots of energy and our society is currently in the middle of realizing that our current way of getting energy is going to kill us. Of course we're not making large-scale investments in energy-intensive exploration. I wish EDS maglev, fusion power or quantum computing generated so much excitement, to say nothing of grid batteries, magnetocaloric heat pumps, or electric impedance tomography. I guess QC has done well lately.

adventured 7y ago
> Why is it always space? For the same reason it's always flying cars, despite how comically inefficient such vehicles are. The masses have an extaordinarily simplistic notion of what futuristic or advanced technology is or should look like. There are only a few well-trodden idols linked to what the future is supposed to look like. Hollywood has told them so; they've been told for many decades that it most certainly involves a space thing and or flying thing. Cracking the human genome was a thousand times more interesting and important than flying cars could ever be and yet the masses can't let go of flying cars as somehow representative of magic futureness. It's nothing more than cultural brainwashing, equivalent to being projected on by media & advertising for decades that smoking cigarettes is cool (and that worked just the same, people bought into it fully). They do what they're told. They believe what they're sold.
- krapp 7y ago
  >They do what they're told. They believe what they're sold. But you don't. You're not one of the tomatoes, you're a real person, huh?
balt_s 7y ago
> Why is it always space? Two words: Star Trek
Animats 7y ago
Why is it always space? Good question. The best off-earth real estate in this solar system is worse than the worst on-earth real estate. It's easier to build colonies in Antarctica or underwater on the continental shelf than on Mars. Mars is small, cold, and nearly airless. We're not short of low-value real estate, after all.
- nootropicat 7y ago
  "Hell is other people". It's not possible to escape the state on Earth anymore. It's a pure question of travel time. Underwater continental shelf or Antarctica, it's all trivially accessible and indefensible. It's not possible to start a new way of living somewhere, like the Amish or Mormons did. What's needed is at least the equivalent of travel time and cost between Europe and Americas before steam ships. Space is not that hard assuming some basic human upgrades. Nothing scifi needed (like mind uploading), just an engineering problem - things that today take a factory but would have to fit into a human sized body.
  - Falkon1313 7y ago
    Wherever we go, there we are. Humanity can't run away from itself. If we could go to Mars, we'd take our problems there with us.
  - 205guy 7y ago
    This is so much hyperbole, typical of manifest destiny escapists. You start with a pop-interpretation of an edgy existential statement. The point of Sartre's "No Exit" was not to glibly quote the punch-line, it's to think about the logical implications. Probably something about learning to live together despite our flaws/sins. About escaping the state, the Book of Genesis figured it out long ago: humans behave badly (aka sin) and were thus cast out of the only place they could live in peace--in other words, some people ruined it for all the others. And because of bad behavior, humans need to follow laws; and who makes the laws is what has created (and continues to create) history. So it was never possible to escape the laws/state ever. To dream of running far enough away to a mythical place where you alone get to make the laws is just futile escapism. The Amish and the Mormons just moved with their laws to a new place, and if you didn't agree with their laws, you still got kicked out. Now for the hyperbole: the "underwater continental shelf" and Antarctica are not "trivially accessible", they are some of the most unexplored and hostile environments on Earth. You'd have lots of trouble establishing a livable base there. Why does it have to be defensible? Is this some sort of Fort Laramie you have to steal from someone else? Leave society, live off only what you can make or grow, have no contact with the outside world. Find a lake in some remote mountains or an island in some remote sea, sneak out there and never come back! What? You still want the amenities, energetic resources, trade, and communication with the rest of the world? Then you're going to have to deal with other people and THEIR laws. "basic human upgrades" "just an engineering problem" fit a factory in a human-sized body??? Why that should be as easy as a CRUD app on a virtual server with some rented storage. Face it: for all intents and purposes, the world is full, nobody is escaping anywhere, and we all have to learn to live together.
randomsearch 7y ago
Isn’t it usually flying cars?

by scythe 7y ago

adventured 7y ago

> Why is it always space? For the same reason it's always flying cars, despite how comically inefficient such vehicles are. The masses have an extaordinarily simplistic notion of what futuristic or advanced technology is or should look like. There are only a few well-trodden idols linked to what the future is supposed to look like. Hollywood has told them so; they've been told for many decades that it most certainly involves a space thing and or flying thing. Cracking the human genome was a thousand times more interesting and important than flying cars could ever be and yet the masses can't let go of flying cars as somehow representative of magic futureness. It's nothing more than cultural brainwashing, equivalent to being projected on by media & advertising for decades that smoking cigarettes is cool (and that worked just the same, people bought into it fully). They do what they're told. They believe what they're sold.

krapp 7y ago
>They do what they're told. They believe what they're sold. But you don't. You're not one of the tomatoes, you're a real person, huh?

balt_s 7y ago

> Why is it always space? Two words: Star Trek

Animats 7y ago

Why is it always space? Good question. The best off-earth real estate in this solar system is worse than the worst on-earth real estate. It's easier to build colonies in Antarctica or underwater on the continental shelf than on Mars. Mars is small, cold, and nearly airless. We're not short of low-value real estate, after all.

nootropicat 7y ago
"Hell is other people". It's not possible to escape the state on Earth anymore. It's a pure question of travel time. Underwater continental shelf or Antarctica, it's all trivially accessible and indefensible. It's not possible to start a new way of living somewhere, like the Amish or Mormons did. What's needed is at least the equivalent of travel time and cost between Europe and Americas before steam ships. Space is not that hard assuming some basic human upgrades. Nothing scifi needed (like mind uploading), just an engineering problem - things that today take a factory but would have to fit into a human sized body.
- Falkon1313 7y ago
  Wherever we go, there we are. Humanity can't run away from itself. If we could go to Mars, we'd take our problems there with us.
- 205guy 7y ago
  This is so much hyperbole, typical of manifest destiny escapists. You start with a pop-interpretation of an edgy existential statement. The point of Sartre's "No Exit" was not to glibly quote the punch-line, it's to think about the logical implications. Probably something about learning to live together despite our flaws/sins. About escaping the state, the Book of Genesis figured it out long ago: humans behave badly (aka sin) and were thus cast out of the only place they could live in peace--in other words, some people ruined it for all the others. And because of bad behavior, humans need to follow laws; and who makes the laws is what has created (and continues to create) history. So it was never possible to escape the laws/state ever. To dream of running far enough away to a mythical place where you alone get to make the laws is just futile escapism. The Amish and the Mormons just moved with their laws to a new place, and if you didn't agree with their laws, you still got kicked out. Now for the hyperbole: the "underwater continental shelf" and Antarctica are not "trivially accessible", they are some of the most unexplored and hostile environments on Earth. You'd have lots of trouble establishing a livable base there. Why does it have to be defensible? Is this some sort of Fort Laramie you have to steal from someone else? Leave society, live off only what you can make or grow, have no contact with the outside world. Find a lake in some remote mountains or an island in some remote sea, sneak out there and never come back! What? You still want the amenities, energetic resources, trade, and communication with the rest of the world? Then you're going to have to deal with other people and THEIR laws. "basic human upgrades" "just an engineering problem" fit a factory in a human-sized body??? Why that should be as easy as a CRUD app on a virtual server with some rented storage. Face it: for all intents and purposes, the world is full, nobody is escaping anywhere, and we all have to learn to live together.

randomsearch 7y ago

Isn’t it usually flying cars?