3 ms·
It seems more likely than not that new boundaries of space will be explored in my lifetime. When we think about it, it is remarkable how quickly we adapt to nor
by ipnon 5y ago
It seems more likely than not that new boundaries of space will be explored in my lifetime. When we think about it, it is remarkable how quickly we adapt to norms, how extraordinary is becoming ordinary at the speed of the news cycle.
Is that what 1969 was like? They always say they believed the stars were in our grasp, that their children would live in space stations and on the moon, but we are their children still confined to Earth. The future escapes predictions, but how exciting it is to imagine that we are born just in time for a man and woman to set foot on the Red Planet, on this little dot patiently tracing loops in the sky since long before our first ancestors looked to the sky.
- vimacs2 5y agoIt's definitely different in the sense that the required automation, solar panel, and reusable rocket technology for bringing those dreams into reality are no longer science-fiction but a mixture of both current and near term technologies. The vastly expanded knowledge of the solar system since the 70's also means we can actually make informed estimates of economic value of the planets and asteroids out there. For me it's now a non-brainer that we will be an interplanetary civilisation before the end of this century - even if realistically the overwhelming majority of humanity will still likely live in or around Earth for at least another millennium - barring some major mass extinction level natural or artificial cataclysm (note that even fairly pessimistic projections for climate change do not meet this criteria).
- ipnon 5y agoThe digital revolution made the difference, in my estimation, upon reflection of your comment. Apollo rockets took off with a computer so powerless it is hard for us to fathom in comparison to the machines we're using to type these comments. The ubiquity of powerful computers I think was a prerequisite for your list: automation, solar panel, and reusable rocket technology. So to answer the implicit question: why now and not 1969? You can buy an M1 MacBook Pro for $1,000 instead of a $1T.