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I think it's more likely that we "cure" aging and senescence than invent FTL. If you can live for 10,000 or 100,000 years then being limited to lightspeed isn'

I think it's more likely that we "cure" aging and senescence than invent FTL. If you can live for 10,000 or 100,000 years then being limited to lightspeed isn't such a bummer. You can visit interesting places.

kadoban 6y ago
That does seem like a good bet. Humans that can live tens of thousands of years would probably have to have a completely different view of time and the universe, and may have a better shot of seeing the stars too.
c22 6y ago
We're going to have to cure boredom too. Just a few months in my apartment because of COVID and I'm already about to crack. How long does it take to update Netflix at 1000 light years?
- maxerickson 6y ago
  If you can get close to light speed you can go 1000 light years in ~6 months of ship time. https://www.fourmilab.ch/cship/flythru.html https://www.fourmilab.ch/cship/flythru.html You'd have hundreds of years of media to catch up on when you got back.
koheripbal 6y ago
Being organic is the biggest drawback. Being individuals is the second biggest. If the AI doesn't absorb us somehow, I suspect it'll limit our ability to contaminate the rest of the galaxy.
- carapace 6y ago
  That's my theory too: to an AI information is food, and the densest source of information in the Universe is us. (In the infosphere the Earth shines alone in darkness, the sole star.) The machine will keep us in a bottle to feed off of our data. ... Come to think of it, why wouldn't it "farm" us over a larger volume?
  - koheripbal 6y ago
    I don't see how humanity is a source for information beyond the initial growth phase (assuming it's created here on Earth). If an AI comes from space, it's likely billions of years old and we are as interesting as fungus.
    - carapace 6y ago
      Well, Information is defined as the unpredictability of a message, eh? > I don't see how humanity is a source for information beyond the initial growth phase (assuming it's created here on Earth). Setting aside the possibility that Earth life is already an ancient alien nanotech AI ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia ), and assuming that humans are unique in the Universe, the rest of the entire Universe is pretty much predictable. There may be some poetic physics going on out there (I mean, of course there is, the Universe is beautiful!) but unless there's another planet of insane ape-men out there somewhere ours is the only show in town.

kadoban 6y ago

That does seem like a good bet. Humans that can live tens of thousands of years would probably have to have a completely different view of time and the universe, and may have a better shot of seeing the stars too.

c22 6y ago

We're going to have to cure boredom too. Just a few months in my apartment because of COVID and I'm already about to crack. How long does it take to update Netflix at 1000 light years?

maxerickson 6y ago
If you can get close to light speed you can go 1000 light years in ~6 months of ship time. https://www.fourmilab.ch/cship/flythru.html https://www.fourmilab.ch/cship/flythru.html You'd have hundreds of years of media to catch up on when you got back.

koheripbal 6y ago

Being organic is the biggest drawback. Being individuals is the second biggest. If the AI doesn't absorb us somehow, I suspect it'll limit our ability to contaminate the rest of the galaxy.

carapace 6y ago
That's my theory too: to an AI information is food, and the densest source of information in the Universe is us. (In the infosphere the Earth shines alone in darkness, the sole star.) The machine will keep us in a bottle to feed off of our data. ... Come to think of it, why wouldn't it "farm" us over a larger volume?
- koheripbal 6y ago
  I don't see how humanity is a source for information beyond the initial growth phase (assuming it's created here on Earth). If an AI comes from space, it's likely billions of years old and we are as interesting as fungus.
  - carapace 6y ago
    Well, Information is defined as the unpredictability of a message, eh? > I don't see how humanity is a source for information beyond the initial growth phase (assuming it's created here on Earth). Setting aside the possibility that Earth life is already an ancient alien nanotech AI ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia ), and assuming that humans are unique in the Universe, the rest of the entire Universe is pretty much predictable. There may be some poetic physics going on out there (I mean, of course there is, the Universe is beautiful!) but unless there's another planet of insane ape-men out there somewhere ours is the only show in town.