2 ms·

If we're talking inter-stellar travel then it doesn't seem to matter what the destination is (planet or space habitat). The travel time remains the same, and th

If we're talking inter-stellar travel then it doesn't seem to matter what the destination is (planet or space habitat). The travel time remains the same, and the only source of materials (incl. food etc) would be what you bring with you until you arrive at a planet (i.e. at nearest star that has a planet that has useful resources). Even if this were a robotic terraforming mission, it's hard to see humans committing to the expense of such an endeavor with no payoff for generations to come. Heck, we're reluctant to act to save the planet our lives depend on right now.

pfdietz 3y ago
If we're talking about a species that has exploited the resources of its star system, and done so at a scale that includes noticeably blocking the light from its star, then said economy has billions of times the energy we're currently consuming. Proportionally, the cost of an interstellar spacecraft would be less than one week of your salary.
- fnordpiglet 3y ago
  But it’s also not necessarily useful. The only reasons to go to another star are - exploration and curiosity - scarcity at home - building species level resilience - interactions with some other species - escape from local political or other turmoil All of these are human except for scarcity. The others don’t require sending more than a small vessel. But if you can build stellar scale structures, maybe the value of interstellar travel once the novelty wears off is pretty minimal. And perhaps while your local star neighborhood is only 5 LY away, the next advanced civilization may be thousands away. Without superluminal communications and travel, or at least very close to the speed of light travel, maybe there’s really no such thing as populating the entire galaxy in the time a species is advanced enough to even consider it. Maybe 500 years to travel isn’t extreme (although for humans it feels like an impossibly long time over which to reliably keep social cohesion and purpose), but 10,000 of 100,000 is just absurd.
  - pfdietz 3y ago
    The point I was making is that proportionally, funding an interstellar colony would be as easy for that civilization as things that are completely frivolous for us. I mean, it could be done by the equivalent of Kickstarter, and it wouldn't even be close.

pfdietz 3y ago

If we're talking about a species that has exploited the resources of its star system, and done so at a scale that includes noticeably blocking the light from its star, then said economy has billions of times the energy we're currently consuming. Proportionally, the cost of an interstellar spacecraft would be less than one week of your salary.

fnordpiglet 3y ago
But it’s also not necessarily useful. The only reasons to go to another star are - exploration and curiosity - scarcity at home - building species level resilience - interactions with some other species - escape from local political or other turmoil All of these are human except for scarcity. The others don’t require sending more than a small vessel. But if you can build stellar scale structures, maybe the value of interstellar travel once the novelty wears off is pretty minimal. And perhaps while your local star neighborhood is only 5 LY away, the next advanced civilization may be thousands away. Without superluminal communications and travel, or at least very close to the speed of light travel, maybe there’s really no such thing as populating the entire galaxy in the time a species is advanced enough to even consider it. Maybe 500 years to travel isn’t extreme (although for humans it feels like an impossibly long time over which to reliably keep social cohesion and purpose), but 10,000 of 100,000 is just absurd.
- pfdietz 3y ago
  The point I was making is that proportionally, funding an interstellar colony would be as easy for that civilization as things that are completely frivolous for us. I mean, it could be done by the equivalent of Kickstarter, and it wouldn't even be close.