Will humans achieve interstellar travel?

Rubecula

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9exm60wTAI

I don't see it happening in my lifetime.

I'd like to see a colony on Mars before I die though.

LastLagoon

No chance ,not happening,ever.
We aren’t ever even getting out of the inner solar system,anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded and not a grown up
Let’s focus on the planet we are on ,we’re stuck here

jaxxx

Very very... very very very very VERY doubtful. I dare say it's our destiny to become extinct on this rock, and I wouldn't put that event at too far a distance into the future either.

titan18

I think we'll do something with our own solar system but most become extinct here after we destroy it

Capt'n Midnight

Yes, but

Three ways we could do it

generation ships in hollowed out asteroids, very very slow

send out probes with frozen embryos, artificial wombs and robot teachers,
ethics on this are a wee bit iffy

Wait until a star gets near ,
with current achievable technology Ross 248 might be the one we'd get to soonest even though today there's nine stars closer.

Wailin

Nope, we will wipe ourselves out in the not too distant future and become extinct. Humans are ultimately incredibly violent towards each other and other life forms.

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Wailin wrote: »

Nope, we will wipe ourselves out in the not too distant future and become extinct. Humans are ultimately incredibly violent towards each other and other life forms.

Not at all. The vast majority of human societies are at peace.

Wailin

With the advancement of modern nuclear weapons it won't matter anyway.

Rubecula

the link actually says we are in the most peaceful period in history, despite what the social media says.

Wailin

Yes but in 60 years time human population on this planet will exceed 10 billion and won't be slowing down either. Natural resources on this planet won't cope for much longer unless there is a massive breakthrough in scientific advancement. Famines, wars, plagues, etc. Sorry folks but lets be realistic here. In the 60's we landed on the moon with limited and dated technology. With the huge leaps and bounds since then, what have we actually done?

Pique

Absolutely yes. The technological advances are getting faster and faster. Ion drives are just now becoming 'viable' in a lab environment. Give it a hundred years and who knows. in 500 we can't imagine. Humanity won't be wiped out by war. Maybe we'll be reduced dramatically, but doubtful if we will wipe ourselves out. Then again, I'm an optimist.

I reckon in the next 2-300 years we'll have (at the very least) generational ships or some sort of hypersleep that will allow interstellar travel. FTL ships might be beyond us unless another Einstein comes along and discovers a way to use some kind of 'warp' technology.

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Wailin wrote: »

With the advancement of modern nuclear weapons it won't matter anyway.

We’ve had nuclear weapons for generations. There are now far fewer of them than 30 years ago. More does need to be done.

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Wailin wrote: »

Yes but in 60 years time human population on this planet will exceed 10 billion and won't be slowing down either. Natural resources on this planet won't cope for much longer unless there is a massive breakthrough in scientific advancement. Famines, wars, plagues, etc. Sorry folks but lets be realistic here. In the 60's we landed on the moon with limited and dated technology. With the huge leaps and bounds since then, what have we actually done?

Yes we will add about 2B more people by 2050. But the rate of growth is slowing down. Clearly. There’s probably 2B added in your lifetime and 5B in your parents lifetime.

And we got fatter, had fewer wars, and fewer plagues.