Space Colonization

So the year is 2500 A.D. Humans have finally developed an engine to take us to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. So we do what any normal human as been show to do. COLONIES!!!! How do we go about this?

Hopefully space colonisation would be an international effort with colonists from Europe, India, Russia, China and America working together to create new societies. They would need to change the atmosphere of the planet (possibly by building lots of smelters and factories to create sufficient CFCs) and introduce plants to produce oxygen. Alternatively the scientists could create special genetically-modified humans capable of surviving in such conditions

Why not? Scientists could easily modify human fetuses both physically and mentally. In addition to being able to survive these conditions these altered humans would be submissive (preventing rebellion) and sterile. They could be supervised and given tasks by normal team leaders in space suits. Once they have served their purpose of re-building the planet for our benefit they would age, die out and be replaced with a second wave of unaltered human colonists

Originally posted by Nick1986 Why not? Scientists could easily modify human fetuses both physically and mentally. In addition to being able to survive these conditions these altered humans would be submissive (preventing rebellion) and sterile. They could be supervised and given tasks by normal team leaders in space suits. Once they have served their purpose of re-building the planet for our benefit they would age, die out and be replaced with a second wave of unaltered human colonists

 

Edited by red clay - 16-Apr-2011 at 09:42

Ιn a meta-scientific way I agree that the Light Speed limit may one day be disproven. Until such time however space colonization on any significant scale or at least of the sort popularized by sci-fi will continue to look impossible. More realistically man may still colonise space even within the strictures of the the Limit via building huge multigenerational arks and just taking many millenia to colonize surrounding space. Which brings us to the next issue: when does man stop being man. We are not Australopithecae and assuming evolution is speeded as per Nick or even if it just takes its normal course but it just takes a hell of a long time for man to colonize things than the people who will end up colonizing the universe will not, in any reasonable sense, be humans. They will be a different species descended from us. Post-humans if you will.

Originally posted by Anothroskon What about empires in space? They would be difficult to maintain since light speed would place a limit on the speed of communications and travel. This brings us to the main problem of human colonization of space: Light Speed. Nothing can theoretically travel faster than light. This is not some shortcoming of present technology but a limit built into the universe, at least according to our current understanding of it, which nonetheless is all we have to work with.

This is why I believe we will colonize other systems with nanotech, self generating probes like the Van Neumann probe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_spacecraftNaonotech probes with AI. Tilper wrote that with a 100 gram payload an interstellar probe using laser enforced sail technology could reach 90% of lightspeed and reach Alpa Centauri in 5 years time. A 100 gram payload could be coded with enough bits to construct a simulation of a city of 10,000 inhabitatnts.

Last price,could be placed 1kg in low earths orbit(350-450 km around the earth),was 10000$ without costs for "return me home".Bone voyage in space,hope got enough for tickets!Where do they sell tickets?!?
Ask here:
http://www.esa.int/images/21786_A4.jpg
new luncher in French Guiana.More of this follows here:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMYBDZ57NG_index_1.html


Edited by medenaywe - 05-May-2011 at 13:25