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Earth is likely very very valuable galactic real estate. Terraforming barren planets or moons is incredibly energy intensive. Assembling habitats in space also

by dsyrk 5y ago

Earth is likely very very valuable galactic real estate. Terraforming barren planets or moons is incredibly energy intensive. Assembling habitats in space also potentially quite frustratingly complex. Earth from a technical perspective has incredible resources. Aren’t we already pointing our latest telescopes at nearby solar systems looking for “habitable” planets? They are gonna want your planet sorry. Maybe they will work out an Indian reservation like proposal because the guilt is hard for them.

kiba 5y ago
It takes ridiculous energy to get here. They can do that at home with all the resources available to them. Beside, why the heck would you transform an entire planet when you can build your own custom made space habitats? Anyway, we're looking for habitable planets not to colonize them but to find signs of life elsewhere in the universe.
- dsyrk 5y ago
  I don’t agree with any of what you conjecture. Assume you have much better technology as ours but we roughly correct in our current understandings of physics and energy. So let’s try building space habitats with square foot like our planet’s surface that can accommodate exponential growth in demand, really? Before you say well they will have a different habitat, that’s easy, we can even almost solve that, little DNA programming we can likely adjust our DNA to incorporate features that make earth’s atmosphere habital. Now the “incredible” resources to get here. It’s nonsense, the first arrivals will be automated probes, lightweight. Again we can almost easily do this and we just got started. Lastly, the idea we aren’t looking for habitable planets with in the back of our minds colonies is silly, of course we actually are, we can make all the excuses we want to try and justify our real intentions. We are on exactly the path I suggest they are likely on. Find planets, send probes, sample lifeforms if found. Send seeds. It’s the universal life force that makes us do it. It’s what life does, expand, replicate, grow, spread.
  - kiba 5y ago
    A planet is not the most efficient design for a habitat. That's why O'Neill cylinders are favored.
- meowster 5y ago
  > It takes ridiculous energy to get here. That's our assumption using technology we are already familiar with.

by dsyrk 5y ago

kiba 5y ago

It takes ridiculous energy to get here. They can do that at home with all the resources available to them. Beside, why the heck would you transform an entire planet when you can build your own custom made space habitats? Anyway, we're looking for habitable planets not to colonize them but to find signs of life elsewhere in the universe.

dsyrk 5y ago
I don’t agree with any of what you conjecture. Assume you have much better technology as ours but we roughly correct in our current understandings of physics and energy. So let’s try building space habitats with square foot like our planet’s surface that can accommodate exponential growth in demand, really? Before you say well they will have a different habitat, that’s easy, we can even almost solve that, little DNA programming we can likely adjust our DNA to incorporate features that make earth’s atmosphere habital. Now the “incredible” resources to get here. It’s nonsense, the first arrivals will be automated probes, lightweight. Again we can almost easily do this and we just got started. Lastly, the idea we aren’t looking for habitable planets with in the back of our minds colonies is silly, of course we actually are, we can make all the excuses we want to try and justify our real intentions. We are on exactly the path I suggest they are likely on. Find planets, send probes, sample lifeforms if found. Send seeds. It’s the universal life force that makes us do it. It’s what life does, expand, replicate, grow, spread.
- kiba 5y ago
  A planet is not the most efficient design for a habitat. That's why O'Neill cylinders are favored.
meowster 5y ago
> It takes ridiculous energy to get here. That's our assumption using technology we are already familiar with.