(OT) Possible extra-solar planet

[Jürgen Hubert]

Looking further ahead, in 50 years the planetary population will be approaching 20 thousand million (12 billion by 2030). One of my favourite scenarios is the creation of terraformed exodus planets connected to Earth by quantum wormhole gateways... but that's a little more advanced. Anyway, in fifty years humans will be clamouring for a new place to live. Will we see war, or expansion? All very useful things to consider.

Off-world colonisation to relieve population pressures on Earth is not an option in all but the most widely optimistic scenarios. Even with a couple of orbital towers (and a destination they could go to!) you'd never get people off-planet fast enough to make a noticeable dent into the population growth...

Plus it creates an interesting paradigm for near-future campaign settings. We will have laser guns in 2050 (heck, look at the contemporary American humvee-mounted Zeus laser system and British tank-mounted energy armour systems), but I suspect most people will still be using tech out of d20 Modern...

If you want a role-playing treatment of near-future space exploration and technology, go take a look at Transhuman Space. While its portrayal space colonisation tends to be a tad optimistic in my opinion, it does stay mostly on the realistic side of things - while still being cool as hell.

 

[Zappo]

Looking further ahead, in 50 years the planetary population will be approaching 20 thousand million (12 billion by 2030). One of my favourite scenarios is the creation of terraformed exodus planets connected to Earth by quantum wormhole gateways... but that's a little more advanced. Anyway, in fifty years humans will be clamouring for a new place to live. Will we see war, or expansion? All very useful things to consider.

Most models of growth that I know of predict that population will stabilize at around 8-10 billions. In 1st world countries it already has; population growth in Europe is almost entirely due to immigration. Italian population is actually decreasing, the growth entirely supplied by immigrants. I see no reason for which less developed countries should not follow this trend once they manage to get a working economy.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I see no reason for which less developed countries should not follow this trend once they manage to get a working economy.

If they manage to get a working economy.

But yes, the population should stabilize at some point - if for no other reason than that "surplus" humans will tend to die off.

 

[Buttercup]

Back to the important part of the question....

Hmm, wonder if the Great Machine is there?

Knowing, would say. Saying, would know. Do not know, so cannot say.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

If I remember correctly (source probably some books, not the series or movies), Epsilon Eridane is the "home system" of the Vulcan race.

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[BluWolf]

Eridani Light Horse??

 

[William Ronald]

[i[Originally posted by Mustrum Ridicully[/i]

If I remember correctly (source probably some books, not the series or movies), Epsilon Eridane is the "home system" of the Vulcan race.

I believe that some of the James Blish adaptations of Star Trek episodes did identify Epsilon Eridani as the sun of Spock's homeworld, Vulcan.

However, I seem to recall that writers are now going with 40 Eridani A - which is seen as a likely candidate for a (somewhat) Earth like planet. Epsilon Eridani is a fairly young star.

 

[Zappo]

But yes, the population should stabilize at some point - if for no other reason than that "surplus" humans will tend to die off.

I don't think the stop of growth in Europe is due to lack of food, and I guarantee you that the declining Italian population isn't dying of starvation.

I, and most people I know of my age, simply have no interest whatsoever in having children in the foreseeable future, and actually many think about it as something to avoid at all costs. I could find a thousand reasons for this, but whichever the correct one is, it serves nicely for population control.

 

[cptg1481]

AGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

....It used to be that every Shuttle Launch was televised and we would take time out of grade school to watch them, now...

(Head Realing from Math Phobia and Sudden Age Recall Moment):

AGGGHHHHH! I was already in the army when the shuttles were a big deal (CIRCA 1985). Thanks for the reality check Crothian.

I think I'll have to sit and reflect for a moment....

 

[s/LaSH]

It's ironic that the countries that have food aren't growing, while the ones that don't are. Third world countries, either because of or despite their lack of adequate resources, are the fastest-growing countries. So if we look ahead, they'll overflow their countries and have to wage war on first/second world countries to get their food. And the Third Worlders will come out worse off, because the First Worlders will have all the powerful weapons.

But that's if nobody realises this and tries something to fix it with space travel... which is, of course, prohibitively expensive, unless someone comes up with spectacular new technology. And, of course, by then we'll probably have seen the Rise Of The Machines(tm), and who knows what will happen then?

In all likelihood, the first people to see an extrasolar world will be artificial intelligences, whether humanity has been hunted to extinction by their own creations or not...