Space Exploration? (minimal spam please)

[dragon wench]

Do you think we will ever learn how to travel faster than the speed of light and actually explore space?
And if we do, will the implications be positive or negative?

Personally, I think that if we allocate our resources in this direction it is possible..

Some argue that to do so defies the laws of physics.. However, I don't think those laws are immutable. Rather, I believe them to be constantly evolving and unfolding.

Also, looking at the rapidity with which technology has advanced in just the last 15 years... I seriously do think that if we don't destroy ourselves and the planet along with us.. it may happen..

What do you think?

[Xandax]

I think it will be possible, for sure.
We are doing things now that for not many years ago seemed (or was thought) impossible.

It is only a matter of time, before it becomes plausible in terms of the needed ressources.
However - we need many new technologies, for instance new propulsion and new shielding, just to mention two.

I would imagine in about 100 years or so we have effective inter-solsystem space travel. And possible a 100-200 more before we reach a form of plausible Intersteallar spacetravel. I set this rather conservative timeframe, because while we are making tremendous progress, we are still a very long way from anything more effective then shuttles. (unless we get some help )

However - I don't really buy into the wormhole or warping technologies, not yet anyway. I think it is more plausible to imagine a form of near light or even super-light speed. Afterall - scientists are doing wonderous things with lightparticles. For instance, not to long ago some scientists slowed light particles down.

[Antharias2k]

I think that it is very possible. Rules are meant to be broken and that is all that is holding us back from colonizing the moon and mars and many more after that.

Start with the moon. Get your basic needs going and then go onto the next one and so forth, because the Earth is not the biggest place for roughly 7 billion people (I might be incorrect about the population).

Just take our dear PC friends. They were office blocks at one stage and now look at the most modern ones. My calculator propably has more processing power than the first computer. From what I can gather we launched a man into space on a 486. (I still remember those days).

About killing ourselves, it is more than likely that it will happen. When was the last time that we ever had more than a day of peace. The fighting between brothers has brought about big changes in our lives. And yet we continue to do it day in and day out.

So definitely, I think that we will be able to get there one day and I don't think that it will be too far from now, maybe 150 - 200 years. The thing about the wormholes is more a figment of our imagination at the moment and is not likely to happen anytime soon.

Antharias

[fable]

I think that anything is achievable, but it won't be done by humans. We would rather spend money on "nuclear overkill" (meaning the number of times you can kill the same enemy, just in case you miss a few citizens with the first enormous explosion), bizarre satellite defense systems and the like, than eradicating disease, poverty or violence, domestic and otherwise.

Humanity survived in the past because it lacked the capability to do itself in. It now has the toys, and the will. Watch out.

[dairy]

I have to admit I agree with fable. We're great inventors, too bad we can't be creative with the things we create. Maybe another world war will knock some sense into humans as a whole, but until then, we wont be looking for a way to travel to another star system within a passengers lifespan. We'll be looking for a way to drop a bomb on someone 0.01 seconds after we decide to do it.

Look on the bright side: If we kill ourselves off and completely destroy our planet's ecology we're just making room for the next intelligent species on our planet. Maybe they'll get it right

[Skuld]

Well in response to Fable's comment about nuclear overkill, Albert Einstein said "I don't know what weapons world war 3 will be fought, but world war 4 will be fought with sticks and stones." I think it's highly likely. Now back to the topic at hand. Space travel was great when we were in the race to the moon with the russians, but now we don't have a whole lot of incentive to put people in space aside from periodic trips into orbit to fix things or run random experiments. And the "star wars" defense system that was in the works under reagan was outrageous. A system of satellites that can shoot down an enemy missile before we even knew about it. Now to those of you who think we'll be traveling from this planet to any other in the next hundred or so years, look at what the space program as done in that respect since the moon landing. They've spent the past 35 years or so looking for signs of life (most in the form of fossilized bacteria) and water. Last I heard there was a new satellite launched to saturn. Upon entering orbit a smaller landing craft will detach and decend upon saturn's largest moon (the name escapes me at present) take a few pictures on the way down, and once it lands it'll do a lot of data collection because at present we believe there to be an atmosphere there closest to that of the earth in that it's comprised primarily of nitrogen. Interplanetary and intersolarsystem travel could be possible, but if it does happen at all it's a LONG way off.

[JesterKing]

While I am sadly certain 'world peace' is a dead dream with all these millenia of 'kill or be killed' evolution fighting against us, space travel is somethign I hope we will acheive before we totally obliterate ourselves... Which I dont think will actually happen, anytime soon at least. Maybe I am just being an optomist (I dont see any reason to live my life in cynicism, so yes if I live it in ignorance on this matter thats ok with me, i mean lets face it. If i am going to be turned into nuclear dust, theres not a thing i can do about it, so I will live hapily in harmony with my fellow man until it happens. LOL!) but space travel is somethign I look forward to... now THAT would be a testament to our ingenuity... lol im a sci-fi guy. I believe it could happen, and I believe it could happen relatively soon if we tried. wormholes are unstable, and besides they are only a theory... and we would need somehting a helluva lot faster than light speed, i mean 4 years to the nearest star? bah... well I can only dream and hope... wow. space travel. awesome.

[Bloodstalker]

I answer the same as I always do the space travel question.

Maybe, but I didn't lose anything out there, so I wouldn't go anyway

[Nightmare]

I mostly agree with Xan's comments about progress, excepting that what I've heard from wormhole theory is really quite plausible and quite cool.

Then Fable posted a good point, and I lost faith in humanity (AGAIN).

[Silur]

Possible, yes. I'm hoping it doesn't happen though... humanity is a disease best contained on earth. Destroying one planet is bad enough.

Edit: ...but it sure is a good distraction for the public whenever world politics get too troublesome to handle. Dreaming away from this planet to the next is a convenient escape

[Xandax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bloodstalker I answer the same as I always do the space travel question. Maybe, but I didn't lose anything out there, so I wouldn't go anyway

If I had the chance - I'd go in a hearbeat.


The future for human kind is pretty grim, I agree with this. We have a tendency to always try and destroy each other.
However - this dosen't mean that parts of humanity can't find the neasecary loopholes and invent spacetravel. It might be unrealistic to think that humanity will work as one - for quite a while - unless something decisive happens.
However - I find it plausible that space travel would still be invented by factions and parts of humanity, if nothing else to escape

[Silur]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xandax However - I find it plausible that space travel would still be invented by factions and parts of humanity, if nothing else to escape

When I was a kid, I spent most of my time in school drawing either spaceships or underground complexes. I remember they were meant to be fully contained ecosystems and the spacecraft weren't really focused on getting to some other place so much as from this place. I never quite did get the energy equations to add up, lacking the positive enthropy offset of a nearby star or equivalent.

What I view as the key problem is that if some parts of humanity take off for the stars, what's stopping the Bushs and Quayles from coming after? Scorched earth is a viable plan, but if you're capable of doing that, you're not qualified to come along.

[VonDondu]

I think that interstellar space travel would be really cool if it were possible. I just read Ringworld's Children last week, and I'm a sucker for books like that.

However, I don't think that light-speed or near-light-speed travel through 3D (or 4D) space is possible for anything but microscopic objects. Acceleration is one thing, but you also have to worry about deceleration, as well as all the space dust you're likely to run into. You can forget about surviving a collision with anything larger than a softball. Even if you beat the odds, how long did you think you can live on a spaceship--a few decades, perhaps? You're probably in for a one-way trip, or a trip where you don't even reach your destination before you die of old age.

But let's suppose we invent "warp drive" or learn how to travel through wormholes. Or maybe we can perfect suspended animation or ways to keep the human body young for a long, long time. That would be cool. But what are you supposed to do when, or should I say IF, you reach another planet? I really get stumped when I try to imagine would anyone would do if they landed on an alien planet.

I really don't think that humans belong out in space in the first place; we're meant to live on Earth. And given our record and the usual reasons for going into space ("we've ruined this world so we need a new one"), I don't see why I should say, "Yeah, let's spend $100 trillion to do something like that."

While I'm on the subject, I'd just like to mention how stupid it was for IBM to call one of their operating systems "OS/2 Warp." Warp? What the heck does that mean? What if I've never watched Star Trek and I've never heard of warp drive? Or, come to think of it, what if I HAVE seen Star Trek? It's very funny and very bizarre that a big, serious company like IBM would name one of their products after a cheesy sci-fi TV show that went off the air in the 1960s. Surely I'm not the only person who has noticed that.

[Xandax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VonDondu <snip> I really don't think that humans belong out in space in the first place; we're meant to live on Earth. <snip>

Well - seeing as Earth is simply a part of space I fail to see the reasoning behind that statement.

[Antharias2k]

We are on Earth for only a short time and what is the goal of every human being?

The question is why. Why were we put on the Earth and what is to stop us from reaching another planet. Why are we on the Earth.

Antharias