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Doomer fatalism is nearly as dumb as sci-fi optimism. It's 100% physically plausible, using technology we have today, to make humanity star-faring. The costs wo

Doomer fatalism is nearly as dumb as sci-fi optimism. It's 100% physically plausible, using technology we have today, to make humanity star-faring. The costs would be exorbitant at this point, but within the reach of human productive capacity (assuming we're willing to ditch the partial nuclear test ban).

TheOtherHobbes 4y ago
The costs are not the problem. We can barely get to the Moon and have no realistic prospect of making a self-sustaining Mars colony any time soon. How is it credible to claim we can build starships that can cross lightyears without technological or sociopolitical problems? The engines - which we're nowhere close to creating - are the easy part.
- knaekhoved 4y ago
  I was responding to "physical realities in this area are pretty rough" - obviously there are other blockers
- loup-vaillant 4y ago
  Getting to the moon only takes another JFK. We have the tech, we have the people, all we lack is the budget and a 5-10 year deadline. Also, another hard part is getting there safely enough. A 5% chance of dying out there is probably not acceptable nowadays. We probably need to go below 0.1% to attempt it again, and that's not trivial, especially with the possibility of solar flares beyond the magnetic protection of the Earth. The real question is, is it worth making it a priority?
  - petre 4y ago
    > is it worth making it a priority It will follow by itself once space mining kicks off.
411111111111111 4y ago
> It's 100% physically plausible, using technology we have today, to make humanity star-faring. That kind of claim needs an actual source, because it's not. The distances are so many orders of magnitude too high for any of today's technologies, making this a pure daydream. The best we could plausibly do is travel within Sol, and that's not starfaring. It would have to be a multi generational journey in which any refueling/restocking is impossible and any slip up would cause a full wipeout. Starfaring is far beyond us... and that's unlikely to ever change for humans with a biological body.
- knaekhoved 4y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion

TheOtherHobbes 4y ago

The costs are not the problem. We can barely get to the Moon and have no realistic prospect of making a self-sustaining Mars colony any time soon. How is it credible to claim we can build starships that can cross lightyears without technological or sociopolitical problems? The engines - which we're nowhere close to creating - are the easy part.

knaekhoved 4y ago
I was responding to "physical realities in this area are pretty rough" - obviously there are other blockers
loup-vaillant 4y ago
Getting to the moon only takes another JFK. We have the tech, we have the people, all we lack is the budget and a 5-10 year deadline. Also, another hard part is getting there safely enough. A 5% chance of dying out there is probably not acceptable nowadays. We probably need to go below 0.1% to attempt it again, and that's not trivial, especially with the possibility of solar flares beyond the magnetic protection of the Earth. The real question is, is it worth making it a priority?
- petre 4y ago
  > is it worth making it a priority It will follow by itself once space mining kicks off.

411111111111111 4y ago

> It's 100% physically plausible, using technology we have today, to make humanity star-faring. That kind of claim needs an actual source, because it's not. The distances are so many orders of magnitude too high for any of today's technologies, making this a pure daydream. The best we could plausibly do is travel within Sol, and that's not starfaring. It would have to be a multi generational journey in which any refueling/restocking is impossible and any slip up would cause a full wipeout. Starfaring is far beyond us... and that's unlikely to ever change for humans with a biological body.

knaekhoved 4y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion