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Generation Ships--- Can we build one now?
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 7563356" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>Ok, couple of points.</p><p></p><p>1. The Moral Issue</p><p></p><p>People have made points that because some people are born into repressive regimes, it's okay that others are born into repressive societies. I'm not quite sure I agree with that, but, that's not the real issue.</p><p></p><p> [MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION], your folks fled the Soviet Union. Ok, now, did they choose to go back? And, if they did choose to go back (for whatever the reason) could it possibly be morally justifiable that they would decide that the next thirty generations of their offspring would continue to live in the Soviet Union, accepting Communism as the only possible way to live?</p><p></p><p>Of course not. </p><p></p><p>And that's the issue here. Sure, the first generation chooses to go on the ship. Fair enough. But, it's morally reprehensible to think that that decision is acceptable for the next twenty to thirty generations. And that's what you are condemning the later generations to. That one decision made by your great, great, great, great ... great grandfather is still dictating how you live your life.</p><p></p><p>-----------</p><p></p><p>But, there is the larger issue here as well. In order to create a generation ship, you need the technology to create a self sustaining biosphere in a closed system. Note, the Earth is NOT a closed system - we have a sun that injects LOTS of energy into the system. Nor are human societies closed systems either.</p><p></p><p>In any case, if you can create a self sustaining biosphere, why would you bother with a generation ship? What's the point? To travel to a new world? Why? We can create self-sustaining biospheres, we don't need a new world. We can make them. Take a nickel-iron asteroid, drill into the center and fill it with water. Detonate a very large nuclear device inside and poof, you have a nice hollow world with a nice thick skin to keep out all those nasty cosmic rays.</p><p></p><p>Spin the sphere in the direction of its axis so that "north" is the direction you are headed and you've got a nice gravity well. Place your fusion reactor somewhere near the center of the hollow sphere and poof, you've got a world, depending on how big your sphere is, with enough living space for millions or billions of people.</p><p></p><p>Wash rinse and repeat as needed to increase the solar system's population. Hang these asteroids in orbit somewhere about a 10 light minute radius from the Sun and you've got enough real estate that population is pretty close to unlimited. Or at least as unlimited as you need it to be.</p><p></p><p>That's the primary problem with generation ships. Once you have the technology to create one, you don't need to anymore because everything you could need is more cheaply found within the solar system.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 7563356, member: 22779"] Ok, couple of points. 1. The Moral Issue People have made points that because some people are born into repressive regimes, it's okay that others are born into repressive societies. I'm not quite sure I agree with that, but, that's not the real issue. [MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION], your folks fled the Soviet Union. Ok, now, did they choose to go back? And, if they did choose to go back (for whatever the reason) could it possibly be morally justifiable that they would decide that the next thirty generations of their offspring would continue to live in the Soviet Union, accepting Communism as the only possible way to live? Of course not. And that's the issue here. Sure, the first generation chooses to go on the ship. Fair enough. But, it's morally reprehensible to think that that decision is acceptable for the next twenty to thirty generations. And that's what you are condemning the later generations to. That one decision made by your great, great, great, great ... great grandfather is still dictating how you live your life. ----------- But, there is the larger issue here as well. In order to create a generation ship, you need the technology to create a self sustaining biosphere in a closed system. Note, the Earth is NOT a closed system - we have a sun that injects LOTS of energy into the system. Nor are human societies closed systems either. In any case, if you can create a self sustaining biosphere, why would you bother with a generation ship? What's the point? To travel to a new world? Why? We can create self-sustaining biospheres, we don't need a new world. We can make them. Take a nickel-iron asteroid, drill into the center and fill it with water. Detonate a very large nuclear device inside and poof, you have a nice hollow world with a nice thick skin to keep out all those nasty cosmic rays. Spin the sphere in the direction of its axis so that "north" is the direction you are headed and you've got a nice gravity well. Place your fusion reactor somewhere near the center of the hollow sphere and poof, you've got a world, depending on how big your sphere is, with enough living space for millions or billions of people. Wash rinse and repeat as needed to increase the solar system's population. Hang these asteroids in orbit somewhere about a 10 light minute radius from the Sun and you've got enough real estate that population is pretty close to unlimited. Or at least as unlimited as you need it to be. That's the primary problem with generation ships. Once you have the technology to create one, you don't need to anymore because everything you could need is more cheaply found within the solar system. [/QUOTE]
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