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Silent3

(15,147 posts)
15. "Never" is a pretty long time.
Tue Aug 28, 2012, 10:30 PM
Aug 2012

Even if I bought that such a projected population drop were going to occur (I can see how something like that could happen, but I doubt anyone's forecasting and modeling is solid enough to state such a prediction as if it were inarguable objective fact), humans are likely to prove to be very robust as a species, even if many individuals die off by the billions.

Suppose humanity has to contend with Malthusian crashes and booms. We'd still be likely to rebuild technology during every boom, probably faster and further than the previous cycle since plenty of information would carry over from one cycle to the next. Further, even right now, not having to consider that kind of distant future, it's much more a matter of willingness to commit the necessary resources than our current level of technology that holds us back from having colonies on the Moon and on Mars.

A discovery that could lead to massive quantities of cheap, clean energy might just be around the corner even now. And if not so soon, it's certainly absurd to insist that in a hundred or a thousand or ten thousand years such a discovery simply can't and won't be made. Cheap, plentiful energy would solve practically all of the current problems of spaceflight, most of which are based on trying to travel through space on the slimmest energy budgets possible. If you've got lots of energy, you can fly fast, direct paths, you can carry plenty of supplies, you can lift and propel heavy spacecraft with plenty of shielding against radiation, etc.

The only significant doubts I have about humans spreading throughout space is that we may reach some sort of scientific/technological/biological "singularity" before we manage to spread very far. What would become of humanity after such a point (if anything which can still be called humanity were to exist at all) is impossible to predict.

I'm sorry, but from my perspective I didn't step on your foot, you slipped yours under mine. DetlefK Aug 2012 #1
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions frankie Aug 2012 #10
But reality is the part of imagination we all agree on. DetlefK Aug 2012 #12
I agree..... ericburns4 Aug 2012 #17
It's a lazy argument that requires no knowledge of facts or logic. Chemisse Aug 2012 #2
You said a mouthful... Ron Obvious Aug 2012 #3
PM? Do you mean the pseudoscientific magazine "P.M."? DetlefK Aug 2012 #4
pm Ron Obvious Aug 2012 #8
I have a slightly different problem with it... LeftishBrit Aug 2012 #5
Damn good point about the link to group therapy stuff. trotsky Aug 2012 #6
I hate that bloody question, absolutely hate it! idwiyo Aug 2012 #11
But how, exactly, does it make you feel? mr blur Sep 2012 #22
That reminds me of the I-Statement fetish. Odin2005 Aug 2012 #7
"I feel that he didn't file his report on time, because he was drunk yesterday." DetlefK Aug 2012 #9
It still doesn't change the fact that we're never colonizing space McGee from Muskogee Aug 2012 #13
"Never" is a pretty long time. Silent3 Aug 2012 #15
Choosing to use the word "niggardly" in this day and age is suspect behavior. Orsino Aug 2012 #14
No, not at all. Niggardly is a very old word, with a distinct meaning. MineralMan Aug 2012 #16
Context is all. Orsino Sep 2012 #18
Niggardly has only one meaning. MineralMan Sep 2012 #19
You can't use it because Confusious Sep 2012 #20
What meaning would it have... Orsino Sep 2012 #24
Oh come on... If someone is going out of their way to use it to tweak someone... jberryhill Sep 2012 #25
Niggardly and the word you used are quite different. MineralMan Sep 2012 #28
"Context, audience, etc. are all important in choosing words to use." jberryhill Sep 2012 #29
I don't want to be guilty of the same sort of fallacy in turn... Orsino Sep 2012 #31
My faggot-burning gay aides thank you jberryhill Sep 2012 #32
That is probably the exact reason nobody calls a lie a lie these days Confusious Sep 2012 #21
It's not just 'these days' LeftishBrit Sep 2012 #23
You do not have a right not to be offended. Odin2005 Sep 2012 #27
Nobody is saying that jberryhill Sep 2012 #30
I run across people who say things randr Sep 2012 #26
Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Skepticism, Science & Pseudoscience»I really hate the "I...»Reply #15