Are humans really a multi-planetary species ?

evlgmaojr27ypu · 23-07-2020 4:39pm #1

I know SpaceX/Elon Musk have this great emphasis on humans being a multi-planetary species. But the more I think about this, I don't see how it will happen (Based on how Covid is playing out).

Humans don't want to wear masks (any breathing apparatus) or staying indoors (controlled habitat) for long periods of time, both of which are really required for human habitat/sustenance on the likes of Mars or the moon.

What are your thoughts ?

Capt'n Midnight · 23-07-2020 8:09pm

Kate Better Myth wrote: »

Some Humans don't want to wear masks (any breathing apparatus) or staying indoors (controlled habitat) for long periods of time, both of which are really required for human habitat/sustenance on the likes of Mars or the moon.

FYP

Miners down the mines been doing that for thousands of years.

Sumaq Urqu,Cerro Rico de Potosí , the rich mountain of Potosí, the Mountain That Eats Men, shows what humans can do and do to each other. A city of 150,000 , at an altitude of 4Km in 16th century Bolivia supported the silver mines higher up. It produced the wealth of the Spanish Empire at a horrendous human cost.

Getting everyone off planet would be difficult. On the other hand there's a reason many colonies down here started out as prison colonies.

Markcheese · 23-07-2020 9:38pm

Is Elon suggesting we become a multi planet species ? Or that we already are one ? And just haven't relocated our lost brethren or the mother planet ..yet ..
Either proposition sounds a bit immaterial at the moment ... Interesting but we've a lot to do here without trying to escape to some other world ...

Capt'n Midnight · 23-07-2020 11:08pm

Markcheese wrote: »

Interesting but we've a lot to do here without trying to escape to some other world ...

The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space--each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.
- Randall Munroe

Money spent on the space program mostly gets spent on this planet.

*Jim Hacker: "Math has become politicised: If it costs 5 billion pounds a year to maintain Britain’s nuclear defences and 75 pounds a year to feed a starving African child, how many African children can be saved from starvation if the Ministry of Defence abandoned nuclear weapons?"
Sir Humphrey: "That’s easy: none. They’d spend it all on conventional weapons."
— ‘The National Education Service’ (from the BBC’s ‘Yes Prime Minister’)

Even though most of the $209 billion spent on the space shuttle was wasted it would have been pork barrelled off anyway.

Was it true that the B1 Bomber had components made in every congressional district ?

Capt'n Midnight · 23-07-2020 11:26pm

Mars is only going to be an outpost. It's too small and energy poor to support a lot of humans.

It's only got 44% of the sunlight as on earth. Us Irish would be OK but the lads from the UAE would be thinking it's fierce dull. A winters day in Ireland would be as bright as it gets at the equator there. And that's before the dust storms. Which can last weeks. So no power. Which means you have to huddle and conserve energy. So no travelling because you need to keep warm.

Space stations and asteroids are the way to get lebensraum.

Big rockets have big fuel tanks too. Use the empties. So even the excuse that Mars has an atmosphere isn't great. Asteroids make better sun shields.

AMKC · 30-07-2020 1:14pm

There is or would be one plus to living on Mars do. A year there is twice as long as it is here so you have twice as long to save for Christmas and you would only age half as fast as you would on earth lol. So a 60 year old on Earth would only be 30 if they lived on Mars lol.

Capt'n Midnight · 30-07-2020 8:45pm

AMKC wrote: »

There is or would be one plus to living on Mars do. A year there is twice as long as it is here so you have twice as long to save for Christmas and you would only age half as fast as you would on earth lol. So a 60 year old on Earth would only be 30 if they lived on Mars lol.

If you were Scottish then the place to live is Mercury.

Every day is New Years day. And every night is Hogmanay

30-07-2020 8:51pm

Elon Musk could do with someone to go "Ah, that's a stupid idea Elon.." to him the odd time I reckon..

Westernyelp · 30-07-2020 9:00pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Elon Musk could do with someone to go "Ah, that's a stupid idea Elon.." to him the odd time I reckon..

Which ideas in particular?

tricky D · 30-07-2020 9:00pm

Two massive limiting factors I reckon are gravity and breathing.

We have little to no idea how different gravities would affect our physiology, especially the physiology from conception to adulthood. If say, baby in womb development is not viable beyond g +/- 20%, artificial gravity, probably in orbit might be required until evolution eventually catches up.

I don't reckon terraforming will be anything close to as easy as some hope. Making this planet's atmosphere viable for life as we know it now, took billions of years of stromatolites and the like very slowly doing their thing. And we have little or no mastery of atmospheric matters.

30-07-2020 9:13pm

Westernyelp wrote: »

Which ideas in particular?

Maybe this one..the tubes connecting cities.. the kid's name..ah, it's just something that struck me watching the Joe Rogan interview.. he's on the spectrum somewhere probably..

Capt'n Midnight · 30-07-2020 9:29pm

tricky D wrote: »

Two massive limiting factors I reckon are gravity and breathing.

We have little to no idea how different gravities would affect our physiology, especially the physiology from conception to adulthood. If say, baby in womb development is not viable beyond g +/- 20%, artificial gravity, probably in orbit might be required until evolution eventually catches up.

I don't reckon terraforming will be anything close to as easy as some hope. Making this planet's atmosphere viable for life as we know it now, took billions of years of stromatolites and the like very slowly doing their thing. And we have little or no mastery of atmospheric matters.

Technically speaking you experience zero g when floating in the womb.

Terraforming is a lot of work. Here on Earth there's the equivalent of 2 meters of water on top of the planets surface. So easier to just pressurise the habs and don a mask outside

tricky D · 30-07-2020 9:51pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Technically speaking you experience zero g when floating in the womb.

Terraforming is a lot of work. Here on Earth there's the equivalent of 2 meters of water on top of the planets surface. So easier to just pressurise the habs and don a mask outside

Biting the bullets for discussion's sake...

You do float in the womb, but are still subject to the same forces of gravity @9.8. The forces will not be the same, so how does that affect development? Bear in mind that it is more than just the baby but also the fluids and their delivery system. I'll ask a midwife friend and see if she has more insight.

Is hab type living just some sort of mere outposting or good enough to be called colonisation or whatever term is better? We kind of need to better figure out what the purpose should be defined as. Thinking along the lines of bringing/making your own environment or using the planet's.

Reckless Abandonment · 30-07-2020 10:05pm

I think human consciousness could be interplanetary. Dont think our body's could take it.
The only way I see us leaving this solar system is our minds download to a machine and it sent off Into the unknown. Eternal life kind of stuff i know. but look how fast technically is moving.

Westernyelp · 30-07-2020 10:49pm

Deleted User wrote:

Maybe this one..the tubes connecting cities.. the kid's name..ah, it's just something that struck me watching the Joe Rogan interview.. he's on the spectrum somewhere probably..

The kids names for sure! He does need a filter installed. But it's kind of refreshing

AMKC · 31-07-2020 12:57pm

No we are not at the moment but if we as a race are to survive then we will have to become a multi-planatery race and that is why we have to go out into space and into the solar system too.

Are humans really a multi-planetary species ?

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