07-24-2013, 09:07 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-24-2013, 09:11 AM by AmrlKJaneway.)
I was thinking about this the other day, and wondered; will starships ever happen?
My thinking was; we could probably make unmanned interstellar probes now, albeit slow one. But manned exploration will take understanding we don't have right now.
So as we build up to this understanding, the powers of computers, nanocomputers and robotics will also increase. To the point that I was wondering about; by the time we understand manned interstellar space flight, will we also have the ability to simply "beam" ourselves to the target star.
We'll have breached first singularity. So we should be able to quantify information in the brain, and all over our bodies. That combined with nano-tech and Von Neumann robotics, will allow us to send a copy of ourselves to another planet, and not only that, but the copy will construct itself at the molecular level and include any tweaks it needs to survive what could have been a hostile environment for regular humans.
Then an information net will broadcast details about every colony across the explored galaxy, and soon after virch-tourism will explode.
Or am I thinking too advanced? Or am I fundamentally wrong? Will the starship phase of expansion be skipped, in favour of cheaper, more energy efficient (and environmentally efficient, as every energy expenditure speeds up the universe's eventual heat death) and seemingly faster "beaming" of human colonists?
My thinking was; we could probably make unmanned interstellar probes now, albeit slow one. But manned exploration will take understanding we don't have right now.
So as we build up to this understanding, the powers of computers, nanocomputers and robotics will also increase. To the point that I was wondering about; by the time we understand manned interstellar space flight, will we also have the ability to simply "beam" ourselves to the target star.
We'll have breached first singularity. So we should be able to quantify information in the brain, and all over our bodies. That combined with nano-tech and Von Neumann robotics, will allow us to send a copy of ourselves to another planet, and not only that, but the copy will construct itself at the molecular level and include any tweaks it needs to survive what could have been a hostile environment for regular humans.
Then an information net will broadcast details about every colony across the explored galaxy, and soon after virch-tourism will explode.
Or am I thinking too advanced? Or am I fundamentally wrong? Will the starship phase of expansion be skipped, in favour of cheaper, more energy efficient (and environmentally efficient, as every energy expenditure speeds up the universe's eventual heat death) and seemingly faster "beaming" of human colonists?