4 ms·
If we can finally cure aging, then, at long last, we will finally be able feasibly tackle inter-galatic travel and planet-level terraforming.
by ffn 11y ago
If we can finally cure aging, then, at long last, we will finally be able feasibly tackle inter-galatic travel and planet-level terraforming.
- UnoriginalGuy 11y agoConsidering how little progress we've made, I hardly think that our lifespans are the primary limiters in that venture. I mean you can travel to Mars in 8 months-3 years, yet we haven't. Energy is our primary limitation right now. We have nuclear but are too afraid of launching large quantities of the raw materials into atmosphere in case of a catastrophic failure (and showering land OR sea with some heavy radioactive metal). We also have fossil fuels which are very energy dense, but still heavy/expensive. And finally we have solar which has been a long-term popular form of spacecraft energy, but it doesn't provide enough to travel between planets YET. Ultimately if we invented "infinite safe energy" tomorrow I don't see Mars or greater space exploration as being too big of a challenge. In particular as getting stuff into atmosphere is now energy-free, and your only limit is the cost of the raw materials.
- _random_ 11y agoIn other words, investing in future will actually make sense.
- flohofwoe 11y agoI doubt that life-span would make much of a difference, and I would even suspect that overall, development would slow down with a longer life span even without aging of body and brain, as the 'caste of the old and powerful' will defend their old ways and suppress new radical ideas coming from the young, which will be in an even bigger minority then today. Just imagine what the world would look like if Stalin would still be alive, or if the government of East Germany wouldn't have entirely consisted of senile old fogeys, the iron curtain would very likely still be up.