Olduvai Cliff theory

[Kai]

This leads to thinking that the present species are the pinacal of existence, where a better way to look at it is that they exist simply because their lineage's made it to this point for whatever environmental ecological reasons, some of them quite random. The same goes for humans; we're obligate tool users with a big frontal lobe but that doesn't exclude us from the normal happenstance extinction events that have been going on for the last 3.5 billion years.

hm it's probably / mostly because it's my own species then, that I (like Rat) sort of hope we can be [Dr Who] Brilliant [/Dr Who], and survive indefinitely?

although, IMO, we would have to get our collective arses off this planet some day, though.

if we would, what then? this is an area regular biology doesnt cover right?

although I'm not that optimistic to say that before we reach an age of space colonies and stuff, we might get thrown back into the stone age (or similar) one or more times. And yes, there's a good possibilty we might not survive one of those hits.

Fuck, there's me babbling about space colonies..

I don't think that intelligence is the ultimate in survival adaptations. Its just another thing that seems to work somewhat, but no more superior or sucessful than any other tactic of a surviving lineage.

I also really really really hope space colonies aren't the solution to survival. Hell, we can barely get humans to the moon alive and back, much less actually living out there. We think we've got it hard down here, but we've got all this comfy atmosphere, with myriad supporting life forms, lots of water, good temperatures and protection from cosmic radiation, and we want to get off this "rock" to some even more desolate rock without all the wonderful amenities we now take for granted? I mean, a person thinks they have it bad now, but just wait till you're living without all this.

If we have to live on extraterrestrial colonies, its gonna fucking SUCK.

[Cain]

From what I have read on the topic, it would take decades, if not centuries of terraforming, to get the best suited yet not immediately habitable worlds into shape.

[Kai]

From what I have read on the topic, it would take decades, if not centuries of terraforming, to get the best suited yet not immediately habitable worlds into shape.

Thats what ND Tyson points out. He couldn't even give any predictions, simply saying it was so far off that we'd be better off thinking about other things and not get distracted by fantasy.

It just seems to me to be infinitely easier to save our asses here than it would be to move elsewhere.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

Well, terraforming planets is hard, sure. Why bother? Just work on getting spacestations spinning fast enough to simulate 1g along the outer rim.

[Triple Zero]

i didnt mean to say we HAVE to live on space colonies, especially not as an excuse to fuck up the current one. I just meant that if we manages to spread our species over more than one planet, we can cut the risks of suddenly dying out somewhat. One planet gets hit by an asteroid or whatever, the human race still survives on the others. Basically my idea was that if we live on multiple planets our species will have made a jump in survival chance unparalleled so far (as we know) by any other living species.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

The usefulness of colonies as a 'plan b' kind of fails if the colonies are tethered politically or economically to earth, which, knowing current politics, is pretty likely. Best case is we give all the anarchists the tech to shoot themselves off into space (or sell it to the rich ones) and manage to get a bunch of politically unaffiliated independent space cultures going, maybe with a promise of like 50 or 100 years of cease fire between themselves and between them and earth, just to try to optimize the likelyhood that they won't fizzle out before taking root.

[East Coast Hustle]

so basically, you think the survival of the human race depends on creating an IRL Whedonverse?



ECH,
not laughing with you

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

I haven't kept up with anything from Joss Whedon since Buffy, but I assume you are implying that what I described is similar to Firefly. Since I haven't seen Firefly, I can't say either way. What I suggested was what Tim Leary suggested, aside from the cease-fire (Tim seemed to be under the impression that as soon as we attain free-fall conditions we become pacifists forever) and the explicit political and economic break (which I'm suggesting because the political situation found in, say, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, where a space-based colony is politically controlled through economic control seems quite likely and would make the colonies useless without earth being functional).

[East Coast Hustle]

so in other words, yes, you think the future of humanity should be based mostly on bad out-of-date fiction.

[LMNO]

Enki, did you totally blow by Kai's post at the top of this page, or something?

[East Coast Hustle]

also, at the idea that if there were space colonies, they'd somehow be completely paralyzed without input from earth.

because, you know, the type of people who would chose or be chosen to inhabit a fucking SPACE COLONY wouldn't be, you know, independent-minded or have any sort of pioneer spirit.

after all, we humans are known and noted for our inability to do anything without direct orders from our superiors. Thank god Lewis and Clark had their iPhone with them or we'd be nearly surrounded by French Canadiens by now.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

Enki, did you totally blow by Kai's post at the top of this page, or something?

No. I don't think there's any benefit to terraforming planets. I am suggesting space colonies, not planetary colonies.

[East Coast Hustle]

and the advantage to that would be what? the decreased ability to grow crops? the potential for even the slightest mechanical failure to mean instant and fatal catastrophe? the slow but inevitable deterioration of muscle-mass and likely organ failure due to long-term habitation of low or zero-G environments?

[Dalek]

That theory sounds kind of unreasonable, 'cos it revolves around 2012 a conspiracy.

[LMNO]

Enki, did you totally blow by Kai's post at the top of this page, or something?

No. I don't think there's any benefit to terraforming planets. I am suggesting space colonies, not planetary colonies.

Well, thank god you've got decent reading comprehension skills.


Oh, wait...

I also really really really hope space colonies aren't the solution to survival. Hell, we can barely get humans to the moon alive and back, much less actually living out there. We think we've got it hard down here, but we've got all this comfy atmosphere, with myriad supporting life forms, lots of water, good temperatures and protection from cosmic radiation, and we want to get off this "rock" to some even more desolate rock without all the wonderful amenities we now take for granted? I mean, a person thinks they have it bad now, but just wait till you're living without all this.