[extropy-chat] FW: The Drake Equation and Spatial Proximity

[Rik van Riel]

Eugen Leitl wrote:

> We're radio bright only for less than a century. We should become relativistic
> travellers in about that time frame. 

How?

Personally I suspect we might end up crossing the void between
stars very very slowly, in much the same way human civilization
crossed the pacific ocean in small boats and canoes.

"All we need to do" is get a diverse enough set of human
populations in asteroid belt space stations and give them the
means to expand and build more stations.

Population pressure should ensure people migrate out to the
Jupiter trojans, and eventually further out into the kuiper
belt.  Hopefully humanity will survive enough for the sun to
have a run-in with another star along the galactical orbit,
and get some of the human stations pulled out of their orbits.
A few of those might make it to other stars.

Even this scenario seems far-fetched enough to me to be
science fiction.  It might even make a nice story for some
of the writers here...

As for relativistic travel - that's even more far-fetched IMHO.
I can't deny I would like to see it, though :)

-- 
Who do you trust?
The people with all the right answers?
Or the people with the right questions?