RE: Colonization of the Solar System Beyond
Wayne wrote: Has the list discussed what it will take to colonise the solar system in the past or is that too almost on topic? I'm pretty new here too ... I haven't seen anything of this kind of conversation. But maybe sci-fi has moved on a bit beyond merely banal spaceflight -- perhaps the topic had become a bit too commonplace, and the genre as a whole has moved onto other more sophisticated foci? It seems to me any colonisation of space will be doomed while it is dependent on any more than token amounts of equipment manufactured on earth, and that with current technology it would take hundreds or perhaps thousands of missions to Mars say, before there would be much chance of building the infrastructure to bootstrap an independent technological civilization. It's pretty well accepted that using resources found in-situ is the only far-sighted way to progress space travel. As you've pointed out, heaving everything with you from the bottom of this gravity well is a fairly tough prospect, so any bootstrap program would be far more likely to succeed if the location chosen is not a planet doesn't have the associated arduous gravity field. Therefore, it seems to me that the colonisation of space something that is going to have to wait until the singularity starts to kick in. Whether the singularity would want to have anything to do with colonizing space, as we see it today, is debatable. Transcendent technology would be capable of so much more, it's hard to see a reason for space colonization in a traditional 'sci-fi' sense. Thus, in my view, space colonization by Homo Sapiens Sapiens is only likely to happen before the singularity occurs. You hit the nail on the head in your posting, in that space exploration (on a human scale) is only feasible if we make the right choice on how to bootstrap. This is why we must make asteroids our first priority! They are the most accessible resource we have in near-earth space, and only by exploiting them can we have a sufficiently large space-borne economy to enable colonization of the solar system. ( beyond?) In order to achieve this dream, we need to develop technologies to allow us to make use of these resources. In the case of most metals, this is a process of crushing the ore rock, and smelting the ore. Starting with small quantities of material processed using earth-origin machinery (small factory / smelter ship), refine enough raw materials to manufacture more capable facilities, which in turn allows an increase in material output, which enables bigger smelters, and so on and so on. Smelters would be solar powered, using very large paraboloid mirrors of lightweight construction. It is likely that the operation would be crewed, with the heavy work done by tele-operated robots and machines. Most ore-processing and steel-working machinery is heavy and cumbersome, and currently works only under earth-gravity conditions. New techniques will have to be devised to deal with the challenge of microgravity materials processing. If a particular process cannot be adapted to micro-g conditions, we could always fall back on using centripetal force to simulate gravity, which would allow us to use the same old kinds of machines that work here on earth. I find it pretty sad that nobody is working toward this goal. The current US space program is doing some good work, but sadly the mission profiles target the moon and mars -- not asteroids. Many forward-thinking engineers in the space industry have noticed this, and are trying to do something about it. There is now a fairly strong movement to have the whole US space program repurposed toward asteroid habitation / exploitation. I wish them every success. C Rock 'n' Roll Maru ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Brin: Life after People
Life After People will air on 2008-03-10 21:00 on brazilian's tetrahydrocanabiol oops... The History Channel. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Brin: Life after People
It's tetrahydrocannabinol! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinol c History is dope Maru -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alberto Vieira Ferreira Monteiro Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 6:35 PM To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion Subject: Brin: Life after People Life After People will air on 2008-03-10 21:00 on brazilian's tetrahydrocanabiol oops... The History Channel. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Huxley
I thought you might like to know of the full-text copy of Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception is online at http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/doors.htm Hth, C One thing leads to another Maru. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Brin: Life after People
So the lesson is get high on life... after people...! --- Alberto Vieira Ferreira Monteiro [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Life After People will air on 2008-03-10 21:00 on brazilian's tetrahydrocanabiol oops... The History Channel. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Brin: Life after People
Oh... I appear on several episodes of the new History Channel show The Universe starting with one on March 11. (USA) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Brin: Life after People
Alberto Vieira Ferreira Monteiro wrote: Life After People will air on 2008-03-10 21:00 on brazilian's tetrahydrocanabiol oops... The History Channel. I just finished Cormac McCarthy's _The Road_. I've had as much life after people as my psyche can handle for a few days. :-p Great book, by the by. If there's a chance that anyone here hasn't read it, you should fix that. Jim Carrying the fire Maru ___ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web! ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Life after People
Life After People will air on 2008-03-10 21:00 on brazilian's tetrahydrocanabiol oops... The History Channel. Alberto Monteiro already aired in california. good program and good riddance to the human race!~) jon - Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Colonization of the Solar System Beyond
Curtis wrote: I'm pretty new here too ... I haven't seen anything of this kind of conversation. But maybe sci-fi has moved on a bit beyond merely banal spaceflight -- perhaps the topic had become a bit too commonplace, and the genre as a whole has moved onto other more sophisticated foci? Tout au contraire. All is Brin, as the saying goes. Please feel free to discuss anything and everything you wish to. And welcome to the list to both yourself and Wayne. As for colonization of the solar system, I'm not sure how it will play out, but I think that one way or the other humans will colonize or at least explore the solar system, pre or post singularity. The way I picture it, a person could sublime without impacting his/her human life. Not only that, but it would be possible to make physical copies of yourself wherever you wanted them to be (given the necessary resources and compatible environment. The staple in SF that I think is doomed is the ship that transports physical humans from place to place. Here I picture trancendant individuals able to transport themselves at near light speed to wherever they wanted to go without the need for a protective environment. Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
