Possible habitable planet discovered.

[Wildcard Ky]

I find this kind of stuff fascinating. Scientists have discovered a new planet that holds a good probability of being habitable. It's only 20 light years away. All we've got to do is get there and plant a flag.

It's kinda weird to think that about 400 years ago if you publicly said there were other planets out there, the church would label you a heretic and burn you at the stake.

new planet

 

[human_male]

The church just liked to burn people, period.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

We should go. The technology is not too far away. It would have to be a generation ship, because it's going to take probably 50-100 years (but less time than that will pass for the fast movers inside the ship.) I suppose we better send some robots first to make sure it looks good. It may require a lot of terraforming. I like this species too much to keep all our eggs in this one planetary basket. We need to diversify our portfolio for safety.

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

Cool! Thanks for the link.

 

[FatDino]

A red dwarf? Will that provide enough energy for plants and other animals to survive? BTW, isn't a red dwarf supposed to turn into a black hole after...idk, like some hundreds of millions of years? Okay okay, humans will all be extinct by then.

But seriously, IF that planet has liquid water, it may take at least another fifty years to build a research camp there.

And the view...sunset on one side and dark on the other all the time , huh?

Just think of the things we can do...

 

[Wildcard Ky]

I'm gonna get there first and claim squatters rights. It'll be the first (known) clothing optional planet in the Galaxy.

Just for the hell of it I'll change my name to Anakin.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

. . . some hundreds of millions of years? Okay okay, humans will all be extinct by then.

Why so pessimistic? Unlike the dumb beasts, we control our destiny.

Today, zie red dwarfs. Tomorrow - zie weltall! (universe)

(Assuming no prior sentient owners, however - we've had quite enough imperialism already on this planet.)

 

[FatDino]

Why so pessimistic? Unlike the dumb beasts, we control our destiny.

Today, zie red dwarfs. Tomorrow - zie weltall! (universe)

(Assuming no prior sentient owners, however - we've had quite enough imperialism already on this planet.)

That wasn't pessimism. That was my being an optimist.

If after hundreds of millions of years and humans are still living, I'd say that's quite a disappointment. Come on, evolve!

 

[jomar]

Wouldn't it be amazing if...

 

[FatDino]

Wouldn't it be amazing if...

Yes...? *raises eyebrows expectantly*

 

[Equinoxe]

It's still a bit early to be making colonisation plans, but it is an intriguing discovery.

That wasn't pessimism. That was my being an optimist.

If after hundreds of millions of years and humans are still living, I'd say that's quite a disappointment. Come on, evolve!

I don't think that's optimism, I think that's science. We, homo sapiens sapiens, will, without a doubt, be non-existent in several hundred million years. It does seem quite unlikely that we are an evolutionary dead-end, though.

 

[FatDino]

I don't think that's optimism, I think that's science. We, homo sapiens sapiens, will, without a doubt, be non-existent in several hundred million years. It does seem quite unlikely that we are an evolutionary dead-end, though.

Yea, but doesn't the idea of us not changing at all sound scary? After that much time and we still measure our IQ's with 3 digits?

 

[JPMMURPHY]

Okay. I've got the U-Haul. Somebody make some eats, a case of beer... ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!




Yep, I find it fascinating too.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

I don't think that's optimism, I think that's science. We, homo sapiens sapiens, will, without a doubt, be non-existent in several hundred million years. It does seem quite unlikely that we are an evolutionary dead-end, though.

Well, that is a long time, but - we have it in our hands to be around then, even as humans. It really is up to us. We could choose by not choosing, and probably evolve into something else. We could choose to become something a bit more, but still essentially human. We could choose to stay the way we are. We could choose to become something no longer human. We could choose to die. It's up to us.

Or - As long as we inhabit just one planet we could get hit by an interstellar "Mack truck" tomorrow, so while it is a bit early to be hopping in the station wagon to scout this planet, it's not too early to be thinking in those terms.

 

[Wildcard Ky]

Propulsion is our big problem. We're VERY slow when it comes to galactic distances.

The speed of light is 186,000 miles per SECOND. Traveling at that speed, it would take about 20 years to get to this planet. Our fastest spaceship to date is about 35,000 miles per hour. At that speed, it takes the spaceship about 5.3 hours to go as far as light travels in one second.

At that speed it would take somewhere around 3 billion, 350 million hours to get there. Or 139 million, 650 thousand ish days. Or 382 thousand, 628 ish years.

Our fastest spaceship was launched in the late 70's. Since that time it has traveled about 1.2% of one light year.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Propulsion is our big problem. We're VERY slow when it comes to galactic distances.

The speed of light is 186,000 miles per SECOND. Traveling at that speed, it would take about 20 years to get to this planet. Our fastest spaceship to date is about 35,000 miles per hour. At that speed, it takes the spaceship about 5.3 hours to go as far as light travels in one second.

At that speed it would take somewhere around 3 billion, 350 million hours to get there. Or 139 million, 650 thousand ish days. Or 382 thousand, 628 ish years.

Our fastest spaceship was launched in the late 70's. Since that time it has traveled about 1.2% of one light year.

Right, you need something that can give sustained acceleration until you reach a significant fraction of c - light speed. You don't need a lot of acceleration, you just need to keep it up for a few years.

from wiki:
Interstellar travel
Sub-light-speed travel
If a spaceship could average 10 percent of light speed, this would be enough to reach Proxima Centauri in forty years, and several propulsion systems have been proposed in the hope of achieving this.

In 1957 it was deemed possible to build 8 million ton spaceships with nuclear pulse propulsion engines, perhaps capable of reaching speeds of about 7 percent of light speed. One problem with such a propulsion method is that it uses nuclear explosions as a driving force, and would currently be illegal under existing nuclear test ban treaties.

In 1960 Robert W. Bussard proposed the Bussard ramjet, in which a huge scoop would collect the diffuse hydrogen in interstellar space, "burn" it using a proton-proton fusion reaction, and expel it out of the back. As the fuel would be collected en route, the craft could theoretically accelerate to near the speed of light. Unfortunately later calculations with more accurate estimates suggest that the thrust generated would be less than the drag caused by any conceivable scoop design. Perhaps a jet-engine like apparatus, stabilized by gyroscope, would allow the thrust to out-weigh the drag.

Fusion rocket starships should be able to reach speeds of approximately 10 percent of that of light.

Light sails powered by massive ground-based lasers could potentially reach similar or greater speeds.

Finally, if energy resources and efficient production methods are found to make antimatter in the quantities required, theoretically it would be possible to reach speeds near that of light, where time dilation would shorten perceived trip times for the travelers considerably.

With any ship traveling at a significant fraction of light speed, shielding the spacecraft from the sparse dust and gas of the interstellar medium would become a serious issue - a grain of dust travelling at 50% of the speed of light would have roughly the same kinetic energy as a bullet from a high-velocity rifle (At what speed does the interstellar medium become lethal to high speed flight?).

 

[Equinoxe]

Yea, but doesn't the idea of us not changing at all sound scary? After that much time and we still measure our IQ's with 3 digits?

That is a frightening prospect, but, while it is a given that we will evolve, it isn't a given that our intelligence will (as far as natural evolution is concerned).

Well, that is a long time, but - we have it in our hands to be around then, even as humans. It really is up to us. We could choose by not choosing, and probably evolve into something else. We could choose to become something a bit more, but still essentially human. We could choose to stay the way we are. We could choose to become something no longer human. We could choose to die. It's up to us.

Humanity has a choice in its future, but I don't think it is possible for us to choose on the terms you think it is possible to choose. Humanity isn't entirely left to the vagaries of nature, but it isn't immune from them either. If we did nothing at all to effect our evolution, we'd still evolve; this is an impossibility since we've already had an effect on our evolution, just not one that has caused us to diverge into multiple species yet. We can guide the course of our evolution in two different ways. There is the 'soft' way, by making choices to inhabit niches and evolving in reaction, that we have been doing for millennia (this is why there are different skin tones, for instance) and there is the 'hard' way that we have not yet truly begun—intentionally altering our genome to make us something other than what we already are. In both cases, we are subject to the Law of Unintended Consequences, which renders the latter a terrible idea [for the time being].

'No longer human' is a fairly arbitrary designation; if we, humans of 2007, would consider our hypothetical descendants to be 'inhuman', they would likely view us as equally so, the same as we make the distinction between humanity and the apes we came from (assuming that our descendents will possess the ability to make that distinction, which seems particularly likely if we are talking about a choice). Whatever becomes of us, we won't be the same as we are now. Choosing to remain is a non-option which would require massive effort and doom humanity to extinction.

We have a say in our future, but it is not entirely up to us. We have influence, and increasingly more influence, but not control. I sincerely doubt that there will only be one species of sentient 'humans' in the time frame we are talking about. We will most likely evolve in different directions, producing more than one kind of 'human', just as there were as recently as 40 or 50 thousand years ago.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I'd like to see a generation ship get sent out and then get beat to their destination by new technology
(it happened on Star Trek once)

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Propulsion is our big problem. We're VERY slow when it comes to galactic distances.

The speed of light is 186,000 miles per SECOND. Traveling at that speed, it would take about 20 years to get to this planet. Our fastest spaceship to date is about 35,000 miles per hour. At that speed, it takes the spaceship about 5.3 hours to go as far as light travels in one second.

At that speed it would take somewhere around 3 billion, 350 million hours to get there. Or 139 million, 650 thousand ish days. Or 382 thousand, 628 ish years.

Our fastest spaceship was launched in the late 70's. Since that time it has traveled about 1.2% of one light year.

Kinda puts the size of the universe all in perspective right there, doesn't it? Unless faster than light travel is possible somehow, it's doubtful that mankind will ever set foot on another planet in another solar system even with generational ships.

And really, wouldn't it suck to spend several generations flying across to the next solar system only to get to the next planet and find out it's inhabited by a race of beings who have been watching errant episodes of Jerry Springer that they picked up with their own SETI program and now they have modled their whole civilization around it?

 

[FatDino]

Come on, everyone. Grab your hats and shovels, we're going to Egypt. Let's pray we'll find something similar to a stargate.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

That is a frightening prospect, but, while it is a given that we will evolve, it isn't a given that our intelligence will (as far as natural evolution is concerned).



Humanity has a choice in its future, but I don't think it is possible for us to choose on the terms you think it is possible to choose. Humanity isn't entirely left to the vagaries of nature, but it isn't immune from them either. If we did nothing at all to effect our evolution, we'd still evolve; this is an impossibility since we've already had an effect on our evolution, just not one that has caused us to diverge into multiple species yet. We can guide the course of our evolution in two different ways. There is the 'soft' way, by making choices to inhabit niches and evolving in reaction, that we have been doing for millennia (this is why there are different skin tones, for instance) and there is the 'hard' way that we have not yet truly begun—intentionally altering our genome to make us something other than what we already are. In both cases, we are subject to the Law of Unintended Consequences, which renders the latter a terrible idea [for the time being].

'No longer human' is a fairly arbitrary designation; if we, humans of 2007, would consider our hypothetical descendants to be 'inhuman', they would likely view us as equally so, the same as we make the distinction between humanity and the apes we came from (assuming that our descendents will possess the ability to make that distinction, which seems particularly likely if we are talking about a choice). Whatever becomes of us, we won't be the same as we are now. Choosing to remain is a non-option which would require massive effort and doom humanity to extinction.

We have a say in our future, but it is not entirely up to us. We have influence, and increasingly more influence, but not control. I sincerely doubt that there will only be one species of sentient 'humans' in the time frame we are talking about. We will most likely evolve in different directions, producing more than one kind of 'human', just as there were as recently as 40 or 50 thousand years ago.

All very plausible, and well thought out. The main idea I wanted to introduce is that, we do have choices, and we could still be around a long, long time from now (and in a galaxy far, far away. )

 

[Equinoxe]

All very plausible, and well thought out. The main idea I wanted to introduce is that, we do have choices, and we could still be around a long, long time from now (and in a galaxy far, far away. )

If by 'we' we mean intelligent species descending from the line of hominids, I absolutely agree.

 

[FatDino]

If by 'we' we mean intelligent species descending from the line of hominids, I absolutely agree.

What if some mutations occur and the scorpions become even smarter than us and take over the world?

 

[Liar]

Guys, you're all missing the obvious.

Bio scientists claim that life is not a one-in-a-million fluke. A life hospitable planet (like earth) is bound to develop it.

And our buddy Darwin has made it quite clear that life evolves into better, bigger and more complex spieces.

So the only thing that'll happen if we send a colonization ship over there, is that the dudes already living there will tell us to get off their lawn and go home.

 

[Equinoxe]

What if some mutations occur and the scorpions become even smarter than us and take over the world?

What have you heard?