Colonizing the galaxy

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I'm confident we'll find a way. Just compare human society in 1909 to 2009. I can't imagine the types of advancements in technology in 2109. It was just 4-5 years that we thought invisibility was a sci-fi dream. Now, with the discovery of meta materials, invisibility isn't just a dream; it'll likely be a reality in 30-50 years.

I've heard this saying that sci-fi + time = real life. I've found that to be quite true.
 
If wormholes or FTL travel don't pan out, we could always colonize the galaxy with some more crazy methods. I'm thinking people spores! All it will require will be some freaky genetic engineering and an appropriate stasis technology.
 
Botolf said:
If wormholes or FTL travel don't pan out, we could always colonize the galaxy with some more crazy methods. I'm thinking people spores! All it will require will be some freaky genetic engineering and an appropriate stasis technology.

That's a cool theory. You should read this manga called 2001 Nights, which has a few chapters on exactly that theory. It's heavily inspired by Space Odyssey, but I recall it being one of the few manga I've ever fully enjoyed, and I typically dislike reading manga.
 
NaughtyCalibur said:
That's a cool theory. You should read this manga called 2001 Nights, which has a few chapters on exactly that theory. It's heavily inspired by Space Odyssey, but I recall it being one of the few manga I've ever fully enjoyed, and I typically dislike reading manga.
I'll look for it, thanks for the recommendation.
 
Topher said:
We need warp gates, an interplanetary space police, and...bounty hunters.
And an order of monks dedicated to keeping peace in the galaxy using their psionic powers and thermal energy melee weapons.
 
Halycon said:
And an order of monks dedicated to keeping peace in the galaxy using their psionic powers and thermal energy melee weapons.

I had more of a cowboy bebop vibe.

The only problem with warp gates is getting someone to go there and build it in the first place they will basically lose their lives going there unless we can get robots advanced enough to go it alone.
 
Zyzyxxz said:
I had more of a cowboy bebop vibe.

The only problem with warp gates is getting someone to go there and build it in the first place they will basically lose their lives going there unless we can get robots advanced enough to go it alone.
We'd still have to wait for them to actually get there.

I think it's pretty clear we need to discover subspace.
 
Halycon said:
We'd still have to wait for them to actually get there.

I think it's pretty clear we need to discover subspace.
I believe the key to discovering subspace is a mysterious red potion.
 
GaimeGuy said:
I believe the key to discovering subspace is a mysterious red potion.
I'm partial to the "giant machine rips hole in space and time forcing mankind to race toward the future" method myself.
 
TOM f'N CRUISE said:
im sure we will find a way, its just too bad none of us will be around to see it :(

Thats always the downer part. When i hang out and look at the stars sometimes its like fuck why couldnts I be born a hundred years or two from now. Just knowing Mars and such is so close but by the time it becomes common we will all be too old for it.

Of course Star Trek has warped all of our visions of the future and we maybe better off living now than then heh.
 
Tideas said:
when you can travel 0.99c, 10 light years really only mean 10 * 0.141 = 1.4 years. 100 light years just mean 14 years.

1000 years just mean 140 years.

if you can travel 0.999999c, 10 light years really mean 0.04 years. 100 light years mean 0.4 years. 1000 light years mean 4 years. 10,000 light years means only 40 years.

if you can travel 0.999999999c, 1000 light years just mean 0.04 years. 10000 light years just mean 0.4 years. 100,000 light years just means 4 years. 1,000,000 light years just means 40 years.

Get the picture?

You know, I'm guessing that it would be annoying if you travel a 100,000 lightyears and then when you arrive 4 years later, you'll find that it is already colonized humans that have invented a warp drive at some point in the 100,000 years that passed on earth.
 
perfectchaos007 said:
What if there is life somewhere else, but humans on Earth are the most intelligent beings in the universe. That would be depressing.

What if humans are the only remaining life in the universe, and when we finally discover outer-planet species, they're all dead?
 
Kritz said:
What if humans are the only remaining life in the universe, and when we finally discover outer-planet species, they're all dead?

What if we discover that outside our galaxy is simply an exact duplicate of our galaxy with all the same shitty bullshit going on?
 
Kritz said:
What if humans are the only remaining life in the universe, and when we finally discover outer-planet species, they're all dead?

Loot and Pillage woo! but seriously there would bound to be dead civilizations in our travels if other life exists.

We just need to overcome large hurdles. We already have some of the brightest minds on the planet saying Warp Drives are certainly feasible we just lack an energy system to do it now.
 
I don't think we'll ever discover FTL travel for exploring...

but I think that we'll have teleportation technology; we just need something on the recieving end to pick up the signal.

So we'll have to build colonization ships that will have to take however long to get to another colonizable planet.

Once established though, we could have a quick link between the different systems via quantum teleportation of information... so essentially we could have internet across galaxies!

nanotechnology manufacturing will obviate the need to use quantum teleportation for material goods.
 
Zaptruder said:
I don't think we'll ever discover FTL travel for exploring...

but I think that we'll have teleportation technology; we just need something on the recieving end to pick up the signal.

So we'll have to build colonization ships that will have to take however long to get to another colonizable planet.

Once established though, we could have a quick link between the different systems via quantum teleportation of information... so essentially we could have internet across galaxies!

nanotechnology manufacturing will obviate the need to use quantum teleportation for material goods.

You can destroy individuals atom by atom, but after recreating it, you will be a vegetable. No memories. Humans, or any intelligent life is too complex. Teleportation technology will never exist and this has been refuted by scientists. They don't even consider the possibilities.
 
DarkJediKnight said:
You can destroy individuals atom by atom, but after recreating it, you will be a vegetable. No memories. Humans, or any intelligent life is too complex. Teleportation technology will never exist and this has been refuted by scientists. They don't even consider the possibilities.

Why no memories?
 
DarkJediKnight said:
You can destroy individuals atom by atom, but after recreating it, you will be a vegetable. No memories. Humans, or any intelligent life is too complex. Teleportation technology will never exist and this has been refuted by scientists. They don't even consider the possibilities.

Who said anything about teleporting humans?

Moreover, why would that person be a vegetable?

I mean if they were recreated accurately.

It might be a different instance of the person, but it would still be a fully functional person.

memories, conciousness, et al exist on the same substrate of reality as the rest of the stuff, even if their specific formation is complex beyond our current understanding.
 
If anything I think our first attempts at true space travel will look pretty similar to the UFO's many people have seen. Making it circular probably makes it easier to simulate gravity and I'm sure they've figured out some kind of way to travel FTL since they've no doubt had to travel hundreds of thousands of light years just to basically observe us.
 
DarkJediKnight said:
You can destroy individuals atom by atom, but after recreating it, you will be a vegetable. No memories. Humans, or any intelligent life is too complex. Teleportation technology will never exist and this has been refuted by scientists. They don't even consider the possibilities.
Reminds me of the thread about this very subject. I would be too worried about coming out as a copy of me (as in me not existing anymore) that i dont think i could take the risk of teleportation.

Reading this thread is depressing, it makes me want to travel to other planets so much more than i already did but than smacks me back down with the realisation that i never will :(

I think i just want to see an alien lifeform before i die!
 
Zaptruder said:
Who said anything about teleporting humans?

Moreover, why would that person be a vegetable?

I mean if they were recreated accurately.

It might be a different instance of the person, but it would still be a fully functional person.

memories, conciousness, et al exist on the same substrate of reality as the rest of the stuff, even if their specific formation is complex beyond our current understanding.

Imagine being yourself with no understanding of what to do. You'd be a baby trapped in a grown man's body. That is my understanding of it because you'll be fully functional, but all memories, experiences etc... does not get translated into the new body. So you have re-learn everything again. Think of it like a severe form of amnesia - only you can't communicate, because language would make no sense to you.

To collect thoughts and memories are beyond science - or at least theorical Science of the 21st century. The brain is the most complex organism in the universe.
 
DarkJediKnight said:
Imagine being yourself with no understanding of what to do. You'd be a baby trapped in a grown man's body. That is my understanding of it because you'll be fully functional, but all memories, experiences etc... does not get translated into the new body. So you have re-learn everything again. Think of it like a severe form of amnesia - only you can't communicate, because language would make no sense to you.

To collect thoughts and memories are beyond science - or at least theorical Science of the 21st century. The brain is the most complex organism in the universe.

Why would you lose your memories though?

Unless you believe in a dualistic existence where memories (and by extension 'the soul') exist in a different plane of existence (and thus can't be teleported).

If you're recreated atom by atom, your memories would also be transferred atom by atom. It's like suggesting that teleporting a hard drive would wipe out its contents.

I mean we could have a long discussion about conciousness the mind and monism/dualism... but if you want to do that, make a new thread, and I'll join in with my thoughts.

The only other problem I think you might be alluding to is the accuracy of teleportation; if it can't do it accurately enough, and atoms are slightly messed up as a result, then complex things like brains (and indeed hard drives) will not survive teleportation with functionality in tact.

But you don't seem to be, as you think a human can survive a trip... just without their memories; it would be more like corrupted memories and information rather than a wipe.
 
Ok so when we travel at the speed of light, you say that it will feel like 40 years while in reality there would be a thousand years passed. (Numbers are wrong ofcourse).

But doesn't it mean that, because it's a thousand years in reality, that we would die during this trip? It's not because it feels like 40 years that you survive a thousand years...

Damn this is so hard to put in phrases.
 
Zaptruder said:
Why would you lose your memories though?

Unless you believe in a dualistic existence where memories (and by extension 'the soul') exist in a different plane of existence (and thus can't be teleported).

If you're recreated atom by atom, your memories would also be transferred atom by atom. It's like suggesting that teleporting a hard drive would wipe out its contents.

I mean we could have a long discussion about conciousness the mind and monism/dualism... but if you want to do that, make a new thread, and I'll join in with my thoughts.

The only other problem I think you might be alluding to is the accuracy of teleportation; if it can't do it accurately enough, and atoms are slightly messed up as a result, then complex things like brains (and indeed hard drives) will not survive teleportation with functionality in tact.

But you don't seem to be, as you think a human can survive a trip... just without their memories; it would be more like corrupted memories and information rather than a wipe.

Scientists theorize that memories and learned behaviours are recalled in context. When someone says, "think of a rose". The brain immediately searches for a context in which it has experienced seeing a rose. Whether it was a wedding, or a picture etc... and then formulates to what is the pre-conceived "perfect" rose by society's standards. And that is the image that comes to mind.

Hence, when you use an "atom-splitter" such as a teleportation device, that context is detached during the process, even if recreated. Whether this results in short term memory loss or long term damage is unknown and this is purely theoretical.

There's a nice documentary on cloning on the Discovery channel where scientists discuss cloning and reference teleportation as well. Can't remember what it's called. But it shows up once in a while.
 
I think you might've misunderstood what they were trying to get across.

Irrespective of how memories are created from a functional standpoint; what they boil down to is that they are links between different neural cells that have different sorts of information encoded.

These links and the neurons and their contents are still physical structures that can be duplicated.
 
Scullibundo said:
What if we discover that outside our galaxy is simply an exact duplicate of our galaxy with all the same shitty bullshit going on?

Then they have a lot of good shit to steal!
 
Blyss said:
Ok so when we travel at the speed of light, you say that it will feel like 40 years while in reality there would be a thousand years passed. (Numbers are wrong ofcourse).

But doesn't it mean that, because it's a thousand years in reality, that we would die during this trip? It's not because it feels like 40 years that you survive a thousand years...

Damn this is so hard to put in phrases.

You are still in "reality" when you are traveling at or near the speed of light. But for you, time slows down. It doesn't feel like 40 years, it is

edit: thats how you have to look at it, anyway
 
If/When they put a landing base on the moon, at least put it on the dark side of the moon. So people on earth do not have to look at that crap.
 
Uploading will be invented way before we colonize the galaxy. And then, the only thing that will matter, is energy. And of that we have plenty. So yes, we will probably leave, but on a freaking microchip!
 
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