How far will we go?

[dudesuperior]

Originally posted by dudesuperior I guess the only way are ever going to fing out whats really going on out there in deep space is to build a massive rocket and go exploring I had just finished writing this comment on the Topic 'Theory about time and why it 'is' on earth', when I suddenly thought: Will we EVER build a massive rocket and reach the stars? How far will our technology and brain power take us? Will we ever become an inter-galactic civilisation like the ones on so many sci-fi films, or will we only ever be able to send a few satellites to the nearest stars? We have only sent a few people to the moon so far (and even that is debatable). Your thoughts and comments please! Edit: Sorry if this has been done before but I did a search and I found nothing simular.

[Neruo]

Good question. If we wouldn't be able to reach the stars, aliens wouldn't be able to aswell I think that with a rocket we will never. Even when traveling with lightspeed it takes decades or more to get to the nearest systems. Maybe with some sort of rift in the universe/time we could cheat so we could travel incredably fast. Like wormholes. I don't see another way but this rather yet verry fictional one

[Peregrinus]

One of the major problems for long-distance space travel is having human beings with separate personalities and preferences and pet-peeves cooped up together in essentially a tin can floating through the blackness for long periods of time. This is one of the major barriers for manned mission to Mars, actually, even though that's right next door, astronomically speaking. A lot of sci-fi movies handle this with the convenient technology of "suspended animation.” Even if suspended animation is biologically feasible, you still have the additional problem of the vast distances in space which would mean that, by the time an expedition reaches its destination, takes data, and returns, so much time will have passed on earth that the mission may have become obsolete. Also, unless the destination were relatively close and the spaceship capable of near-light speeds, the astronauts would likely have to be multi-generational, having and raising children en-route so that those children could be the ones to actually explore the final destination. Also, even if the destination were close and the spaceship fast, the effects of time dilation would mean that the astronauts’ families and friends will all have died and turned to dust before their return, which raises its own very pertinent psychological issues. All of this is to say that in the absence of some form of point-to-point transportation, interstellar travel is highly impractical and therefore highly unlikely except for perhaps large, one-way colonizing missions. Such missions would, of course, only be possible with sufficiently advanced terraforming technology – in other words, it’s a long, long, long way off.

[dudesuperior]

This is pretty depressing stuff... What about warp and all that. I think that Einstien proved it was in theory possible to warp. Is this true?

[Neruo]

Originally posted by dudesuperior This is pretty depressing stuff... What about warp and all that. I think that Einstien proved it was in theory possible to warp. Is this true? Don't know. But I do think it is possible. If you see the universe as a piece of paper you can just fold the paper so you can get from one side to the other in a second. Ok the universe is 3d and there is no 'side' of it. But besides that I think there is a chance of it being possible, but i doubt or man could be able to create such a thing at will.

[bradybaker]

Originally posted by dudesuperior I think that Einstien proved it was in theory possible to warp. Is this true? His theories lie on the assumption that the speed of light cannot be surpassed. Personally, if I had the chance to explore the deepest reaches of the universe but had to leave my friends and family behind, never to see them again I wouldn't even consider staying. That's an opportunity that you can't pass up. I'd be on that ship so fast....they'd study me to figure out how to make the ship go that fast.

[Peregrinus]

Originally posted by dudesuperior What about warp and all that. I think that Einstien proved it was in theory possible to warp. Is this true? If by warp you mean wormhole, yes. It is theoretically possible, but no macroscopic wormholes have ever been observed. The last book I read on this topic (granted this was years ago) stated that a stable, macroscopic wormhole would have to be lined with a negative energy density. (Yeah, no one knows how that's possible, or really, what it even means.) On a quantum scales, microscopic wormholes are constantly arising and disappearing in the "quantum foam," but that's hardly useful for space travel.

[dudesuperior]

This is also a point i want to make- it's all so complicated it would be easier if we just gave up exploring and did nothing but to stay on earth, (and maybe make a rocket just to blast away any incoming asteriods).

[Peregrinus]

Originally posted by dudesuperior This is also a point i want to make- it's all so complicated it would be easier if we just gave up exploring and did nothing but to stay on earth, (and maybe make a rocket just to blast away any incoming asteriods). If humanity gave up every time some advancement seemed "complicated," we would still be living in caves eating uncooked meat and foraging for food.

[Neruo]

Originally posted by Peregrinus If humanity gave up every time some advancement seemed "complicated," we would still be living in caves eating uncooked meat and foraging for food. True. Space travel might seem pointless sometimes. (launch a 100 billion rocket into the sky to make a few people walk around on a big rock). But in the future we realy will move to other planets like we once crossed the seas =) problem is we need to find a livable planet first. And that might take a long long long time ^__^ --------- I rememberd hearing blackholes allso had some potency for space travel somehow. Maybe they just fuck open the universe and make a shortcut?

[dudesuperior]

Originally posted by Neruo I rememberd hearing blackholes allso had some potency for space travel somehow. Maybe they just fuck open the universe and make a shortcut? I have heard that black holes lead to other universes altogether, so if it were possible to go though one without being destroyed you might end up in another universe Apparently if the laws of physics were only a little bit different to our universe we would explode or something- Jesus Christ space is wierd isn't it!

[Peregrinus]

Originally posted by dudesuperior I have heard that black holes lead to other universes altogether, so if it were possible to go though one without being destroyed you might end up in another universe * * * It has been postulated that rotating Kerr-Newman black holes could function as wormholes leading either to other parts of our universe or to other universes altogether.

[Howie]

Originally posted by Peregrinus If humanity gave up every time some advancement seemed "complicated," we would still be living in caves eating uncooked meat and foraging for food. You mean we all don't live that way. Lets face it. What is it even to the next galaxy? Andromeda, 100.000 light years or something? Like it has been pointed out. Some major break through, one of which we are not probably not familiar with will be our only way for space travel. For goodness sake. They just launched a rocked towards Pluto at 38,400 miles an hour and I think it will take it 9 and a half years to reach it. That is in our solar system. If the Gov would just let us ask the aliens from area 51 we would know!

[eyeofgames]

We better cuz the sun is not going to last forever

[Peregrinus]

Originally posted by eyeofgames We better cuz the sun is not going to last forever Well, then we've got about 4.5 billion years to figure it out. My guess, though, is that we'll corrupt this planet to the point of inhospitability long before the sun expands beyond the orbit of the earth as it becomes a red giant.

[Darkmatic]

Originally posted by Peregrinus Well, then we've got about 4.5 billion years to figure it out. *My guess, though, is that we'll corrupt this planet to the point of inhospitability long before the sun expands beyond the orbit of the earth as it becomes a red giant. Exactly , i think we should focus on sustainability before we go onto grander things such as space exploration . Its extremely improtant for the survival of the human race and all other life forms on earth that we find a way to stop destroying earth , and maybe even restore it . And , in the process of cleaning our act up and making life sustainable for an indefinate amount of time without outside factors we may , or its most likely tht we will discover other ways of doing things that may not be so wasteful .

[dudesuperior]

Our technology is 'evolving' millions of times faster than we are. We might soon hit a barrier in technological advancement since we may not have enough brain power to continue improving on designs over and over like we are currently. (When I say soon I mean in 100s or thousands of years time) Originally posted by eyeofgames+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eyeofgames)</div> We better cuz the sun is not going to last forever[/b] <!--QuoteBegin-Peregrinus Well, then we've got about 4.5 billion years to figure it out. After that we have to find a new Galaxy altogether. The Andromeda Galaxy is Heading straight for the milky way. We've got around 9 billion year untill they collide in a big fireball of death

[Neruo]

I think we indeed will fuck up this world before the sun runs out, but I think once we fucked it up billions will die, but the earth will restore itself, rather fast, maybe even within a million years. So if we can at least keep all the knowledge stored... I think we one day can, will, and have to inhabit other planets. Or invent something to survive anyway. If we can use 1% of the sun's (or any suns) enegry to the fullest extend we could theoretically create oxigen from rock and such. In theory. I though. We have to invent a machine that can put atoms together to any monecules we want. We could make glucose from rocks and mud or something.

[Howie]

I think it will be the earth itself that is gone long before our star burns out. We are so irrelevant in the scheme of time and space.

[Peregrinus]

[quote]I think it will be the earth itself that is gone long before our star burns out. We are so irrelevant in the scheme of time and space. We could always get knocked about by a stray asteroid and not have Bruce Willis to save us... Or we could melt our ice caps, raise the sea levels and disrupt global weather and ocean current patterns... or release enough radiation to cause massive, widespread cellular damage... or we could contaminate and waste our freshwater resources... or we could play around with GMO until we create the ultimate Kudzu to engulf the world... Oh, there are just so many creative ways to take ourselves out of the game. And only one likely way for the sun to go. I think you're right, Howetzer - unless we as a species have a sudden epiphany. (Can you see an entire planet running naked through the streets yelling "Eureka!"?)

[Howie]

Originally posted by Peregrinus We could always get knocked about by a stray asteroid and not have Bruce Willis to save us... Or we could melt our ice caps, raise the sea levels and disrupt global weather and ocean current patterns... or release enough radiation to cause massive, widespread cellular damage... or we could contaminate and waste our freshwater resources... or we could play around with GMO until we create the ultimate Kudzu to engulf the world... Oh, there are just so many creative ways to take ourselves out of the game. And only one likely way for the sun to go. I think you're right, Howetzer - unless we as a species have a sudden epiphany. (Can you see an entire planet running naked through the streets yelling "Eureka!"?) Boy peregrine! Destruction, mayhem havoc, and strife sounds like your forte And you know as well as I do that Bruce Willis would not let us down. Oh, there are just so many creative ways to take ourselves out of the game. [/b] I am sure they come up with more each day.

[Belisarius]

Originally posted by Darkmatic Exactly , i think we should focus on sustainability before we go onto grander things such as space exploration . Its extremely improtant for the survival of the human race and all other life forms on earth that we find a way to stop destroying earth , and maybe even restore it . And , in the process of cleaning our act up and making life sustainable for an indefinate amount of time without outside factors we may , or its most likely tht we will discover other ways of doing things that may not be so wasteful . I read somewhere that human population is expected to level out at around 9 billion, that's hardly big enough to destroy all of the world's resources, and if it did deplete some limited resources such as petroleum and uranium the population would probably suffer. I think our best hope is to harness the power of DNA to design plants that can grow petroleum and other resources for us, as I doubt we'll ever be unable to farm the land. I am fully confident that humanity would survive any large scale disaster such as a supervolcano, an asteroid impact, nuclear war, or any other apocalyptic scenario you can think of, and probably rise up again afterwards given our amazing intellectual capabilities. I see us establishing settlements on the moon and eventually terraforming it to some extent(maybe massive domes of air rather than an atmosphere that probably wouldn't be retained by the moon). Later we would probably establish colonies on mars, in fact we could probably do it in a decade if we put forward the resources. Mars would be a good candidate for terraformation. After that we'd see some more various colonies elsewhere in our solar system, and at some point, maybe a thousand years from now, we'll be sending colonization missions to Earth-like planets(we are currently building the tools to find them) which would be either multi-generational flights or use technology we don't yet know of. Overall I see a practically indefinite survival of the human race and its successors as long as there isn't some massively destructive cosmic event that would destroy our corner of the galaxy, or something smaller occurring before we can get very far. The one thing I will warn you against is understimating future discoveries and scientific advancements. Everyone has a natural tendency to assume that their culture knows everything there is to know, or are aware of what they don't know, but history has proven that there is always something wrong with this feeling, and people realize that they didn't know everything, or even were wrong about what they thought they knew. We will make discoveries in the next few hundred years that we haven't yet concieved of, and our whole worldview will be turned upside down. What is impossible today might not be tomorrow.

[dudesuperior]

Originally posted by Belisarius We will make discoveries in the next few hundred years that we haven't yet concieved of, and our whole worldview will be turned upside down. What is impossible today might not be tomorrow. Very true. A thousand years ago it would have been impossible for people to imagine all the stuff we have now. It could be the very same thing with us.

[CryoDragoon]

Originally posted by Neruo True. Space travel might seem pointless sometimes. (launch a 100 billion rocket into the sky to make a few people walk around on a big rock). But in the future we realy will move to other planets like we once crossed the seas =) problem is we need to find a livable planet first. And that might take a long long long time ^__^ --------- I rememberd hearing blackholes allso had some potency for space travel somehow. Maybe they just fuck open the universe and make a shortcut? mwahahaha, i found sumthing: http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=16902006 http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundam.../mg18925331.200 http://www.primidi.com/2006/01/09.html and about the black hole thing: http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/singularity.html#photon i quote: just before you hit the singularity: "Besides shredding our already torn apart bits into subatomic particles... blablabla" so... that means we are dead... more about this, and ANIMATIONS!!!! : http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/schw.shtml

[dudesuperior]

Originally posted by CryoDragoon mwahahaha found sumthing: http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=16902006 http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundam.../mg18925331.200 http://www.primidi.com/2006/01/09.html Cool. A round trip to the moon in a few hours- sounds like progress to me. Still, 10 light years in 80 days wouldn't make much difference in the scale of the galaxy. Edit: 50th post- Mexican wave!!!!