Originally posted by JDN24
I just wanted your opinions on whether or not, humans will ever live on another planet/galaxy? Is it even possible?
Well, "ever" is a long time. But even so, I would have to guess that no, we will never get to a point where large human colonies will be
established on other planets. For a few reasons.
The first reason is that the human body is not built for long space flight. The Russians pretty much proved that. Humans made it to the moon, but
compared to another planet, the difference is between camping in the back yard and going on an Mount Everest expedition.
We have weak bodies and we have to take pretty much everything with us wherever we go, making the size of the project almost insurmountable. We also
don't have very long lifespans. We could never live long enough to travel to even the closest neighboring star, and intergenerational ships are
interesting in theory but the practical problems with doing that are monumental. Sci-fi geeks like the idea, though.
Of course, you could maybe say that we might solve the speed and power problems in the next 10,000 years or so. Maybe. But the human species itself
will probably not be around that long. We're already manipulating DNA and in a couple hundred years we will be modifying ourselves right out of
existence as a species. Along with that, in just about that same amount of time, we will be creating artificial life forms that are self-replicating
intelligent machines. Because they can be turned off and stored indefinitely, they would be much better suited to any deep space exploration or
planetary colonization that human beings. So they'll go and not us.
Maybe we'll make some kind of token trip to Mars someday. Forget Venus. A brief scientific excursion. Mars is really not set up to support human
life well, though. And it would take us too long to terraform to make it more cozy. Again, by that time, our smart robots will be living there long
before us and maybe after us.
Anyway, that's what virtual reality is for. In much less than 200 years, we'll have space games and virtual reality constructions perhaps fed
directly into your brain that will be so realistic that it would be pointless to actually go to a real alien planet. Actually traveling to someplace
like Sedna would be expensive and dangerous and only for a few people. Virtually flying through the ice mountains of Sedna, feeling the frozen helium
whipping through your hair, on some fabulous adventure, will be a lot cheaper, accessible to everyone, and more satisfying than actually going.