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The Universe Within 12.5 Light Years

(www.atlasoftheuniverse.com)
266 points algorithmista | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.199s | source
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stephc_int13 ◴[] No.45145686[source]
When the Fermi Paradox was first posited, scientists and engineers seemed to believe that interstellar travel was soon to be technologically achievable, a few decades, maybe centuries for the less optimistic. Progress around space propulsion has kind of stalled since then and we should maybe question the possibility of interstellar travel as this would give an easy but unpleasant answer to the famous paradox.
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treyd ◴[] No.45146055[source]
We do know how to build interstellar-capable propulsion. It'd still be a generational ship but we know how we could do it within the span of a few human lifetimes. Building them is a matter of organizing the resources to actually make it happen, and we haven't had the collective will for anything like that yet.
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SoftTalker ◴[] No.45146094[source]
I’d be pretty pissed at my parents if I was born on a Starship and condemned to die on it too. Imagine living your entire life in a Winnebago and you can’t even go outside.
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carpo ◴[] No.45146458[source]
Would you really? when it's the only thing you've ever known you'd probably just accept it as normal.
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imoverclocked ◴[] No.45147027[source]
... which begs the question of who would really arrive at the destination. Our own civilization starts to rebel at things that were heralded by the previous generation because the current generation doesn't remember the problems that were solved. In two generations, the humans that remain might not leave the ship at all despite having a whole planet (or multiple) to inhabit.
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1. carpo ◴[] No.45154530[source]
I think you'd have to manufacture a culture, with rituals and habits designed to keep people focused so that the meaning of their lives was tied to the end-goal. It would make a good story :)