Posted on 12/26/2013 1:54:41 PM PST by BenLurkin
think it is possible for humans to become an interstellar race. I think it’s possible, but not within my lifetime, not the next hundred years without some really transformative technologies in between. The key one on the International Space Station right now we’re testing life support systems, and doing phenomenally well.
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don’t see us becoming that space-faring race, not within the next hundred years, not perhaps within the next thousand years. But again, these are timescales that I can’t even fathom within my small existence. We’re talking about a galaxy that’s billions of years old – we’re talking about missions that could conceivable take hundreds of years to get to the nearest group of stars. I think we need to start changing the way we think, and science fiction helps – it helps with the warp drive and all that – it kind of pushes us in ways that we wouldn’t understand. But in realistic terms, at least a hundred years before that even becomes a possibility."
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
A lot of people don’t have any clue about what kinds of research is going on or the advances being made. I agree that DNA has a future in hypercomputing. I think the ability to download at least partial human intelligence into computers is also relatively near.
Lots of research going on in the area of hibernation. Just a few days ago I was reading about researchers extending the lifespans of mice by 10 or 12 times using a metabolism slowing molecule naturally produced by the cells. They were putting these mice under for weeks at a time only to run them through mazes with accuracy as if they had done it minutes before. Scale it to a human lifespan and you’re looking at putting a 30 year old person to sleep for 50 years and when they wake up they’ve only physically aged a couple of years.
Me either and it wasn’t until I saw it in Youtube’s recommendations way back when that I had even heard of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlost
At one time it looked like all the episodes were still there and I used Real Player to capture them all.
Perhaps it has escaped your notice that we’re currently $17 TRILLION IN DEBT with $140 TRILLION IN UNFUNDED LIABILITIES?!?
There is no money and no constituency for the level of investment necessary for your dream.
Orion is “supposed” to launch the first test flight next year, with the first manned test flight “scheduled” for 2020.
Take a peek at the cost/schedule curve, then tell me when your break through miracle needs to occur to meet your time table.
In Saturn Rukh Robert L Forward wrote about the “Mars firsters” standing in the way of progress.
Orion is “supposed” to launch the first test flight next year, with the first manned test flight “scheduled” for 2020.
Take a peek at the cost/schedule curve, then tell me when your break through miracle needs to occur to meet your time table.
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The USA is in the first years of a massive refunding as a result of a revolution in the oil patch.
That said the big break through technologies that make big space civilization possible— won’t come as a result of money being thrown at them by government.
But things like warp drive and matter beamings aren’t going to happen by 2300. Don’t see any science on warp bubbles much and that is why the ship can travel at those speeds, not because of the propulsion engines. And it will take some really sophisticated computers before there is matter transfer.
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nobody knows when or if this stuff will happen.
What we do know is that not only is that not only is technology is changing but the rate of change is accelerating.
Further, there have been some pretty disruptive technologies in the past—that came along and just drew a ledger line on all things that came before and afterwards.
Consider in the last 5 years we’ve been hit by two massive technological changes. The first is the shift to cell phone computers world wide. The amount of computing power on people’s cell phones is about what a laptop had in 2005. This is all over the world.
The second great technological revolution is what’s happening the oil patch to gas and oil. What’s happening there is so financially powerful that it will literally recapitalize the USA.
If the next 10 years has 4 revolutions of the scale we have experienced in the last 5...the world will be radically different in 10 years.
Of possible interest..!
See "twins paradox," it's invented already. Just travel out and back, and you will return to a twin who is older than you.
Baring a breakthrough...between 2080 and 2150 we will go to the stars with faster than light capability.
Ah, but we already established that you can’t go back in time.
“I remember my first cell phone. It was one of those flip phones. It had voice-activated calling.”
“I couldn’t resist having the voice command to call home be “Enterprise”.”
Still got one. Way the heck out in the middle of nowhere,
with no bars showing, I can make a call.
Kinda garbled, weak volume, I can make a call. And it’s only been through the washing machine twice.
pretty much like the pilgrims, or the other settlers here...
Thanks Las Vegas Dave.
I expect DNA to be used in computing within 5 years. That should be a game changer. I post a lot of tech stories here, even though I am anything but a techie and most of it just amazes me.
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I don’t know if DNA will be used in computing in 5 years. That’s something akin to Kurizwell’s idea. He places the perfection of that technology out around 2039;
But there will be huge changes in the way doctors do business as a result of DNA technology. But even those big noticeable changes are 10 years out imho. It will be commonplace to grow organs from your own tissue. People will be prescribed medicine tailored to their exact dna.
I know. In 1993 I needed to increase the memory of an IBM-400 mainframe and the cost of one megabyte was $10,000!
And they will be greeted at their destination by their descendants who stayed behind and waited for faster travel technology.
The human mind does not grasp the reality of interstellar distances.
yep
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