Posted on 08/11/2017 10:15:15 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Yes, many people want to travel to other stars....Yet making preparations and doing judicious planning is the aim of this book. Wisely though, this book isn’t technical. It has no mention of specific impulse calculations or ion shields. Rather, this book takes a very liberal view of space travel and ponders deep questions such as whether the cosmos is an ecosystem.
Does our species have an appropriate culture for space travel? What exactly is a human? These concerns get raised in some very thought provoking sections. And given that the editor is an architect and one who apparently considers the emotional qualities of a structure as much as functional qualities, then this book’s presentation tends to be a little more on the philosophical side of things.
In particular, it looks at the benefits of living entities. For instance it notes that humans live in symbiotic relationships with a host of internal and external organisms. Most have already gone into space either within people who have traveled in space or possibly upon probes sent to other planets. So we aren’t the only species that’s traveled beyond Earth. But which beings are sufficient and necessary to keep humans alive for the generations needed to travel to another star? That question and many answers come up often.
As well, the essays get into bigger questions such as: What is life? Could the vessel be an organic construct? How might today’s humans evolve to tomorrow’s star travelers? Should humans travel in space and promote/continue panspermia? Yes, these questions and many more are raised in the essays collected within this book. And true to form for any book considering star travel, there aren’t any strict answers. There are however lots of ideas and concepts to better prepare humans.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
We also need to be in the presence of a magnetic field similar in strength to that of earth as well, there are plenty of unknowns.
However, no matter where we go, there will always be Chinese take out there. I think its one of the undocumented laws of physics.
Excellent! Let’s load all the Liberals into a huge ship and launch it. I don’t care where to, just launch it!
“I don’t care where to, just launch it!”
Happy thought of the day. :)
I am morally opposed to generational spaceships. They are kidnapping and forced labor for generations yet unborn. Without any means to go elsewhere, it’s nothing but criminal imprisonment for the children and descendants of the original crew.
Same thing as it is for jumpsuits.
Cheap to make and no one in their right mind wears them as everyday wear on earth so they look "exotic"
G’Kar remarked that almost on every civilized world there was Swedish meatballs.
As long as I can have good crab Rangoon and french fries, sign me up.
A variation on the Golgafrincham space ark plan.
I believe Douglas Adams already covered that possibility.
An novel and unusual objection.
The leisure suit defies explanation.
Some things are just beyond contemplation.
I am a SF fan as well is a few of my friends. It has been a while since we popped open a Glenfiddich and then spent time discussing space travel in generational ships. One thing that was always agreed upon was that the travelers should probably racially pure, maybe even politically pure or at least similarly inclined. The reason always boiled down to this: the journey will be tough enough without having to contend with the extra issues that a ‘racial rainbow’ ( I don’t mean ‘gay’ in any fashion) or political extremism would eventually bring about. There is plenty of diversity within each major category of race to avoid the boredom argument. No need to blend on a single spaceship.
... just my $0.02 USD
Need lots of gays else ow will they re-propagate, oh never mind.
I meant Muslims are wired to kill infidels, on Earth or in space.
Perhaps a safeguard would be to make a bacon spaceship powered by alcohol ;-)
Artificial gravity is easy in a space ship or station. Just spin it. It’s the only kind that may be possible. There’s too much “magic” in popular science fiction making it more fiction than science.
Muslims can’t go into space as how would they bow to Mecca?
That’s a very interesting take on it...I have never looked at that angle.
I posed this question before: If we are serious about deep space exploration, shouldn’t we be sending retrievable commodoties (food, water, building materials) into space NOW so as to build a supply line?
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