[ExI] Monkeys in Space (Was: Re: ET Emergence (Was Re: Uploads as a group of AI agents))

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 29/03/2026 23:03, Keith Henson wrote:
> Sun, Mar 29, 2026 at 5:19 AM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> snip
>
>> *I was reading recently that we need at least 0.85g (I think, I can't find the reference just now, but it was depressingly high, certainly > 0.6g) to prevent bone density problems, so it seems that between radiation and this, not to mention our resource needs, there's no realistic prospect of (biological) humans ever 'colonising space'. Even Mars has less gravity than we need to stay healthy.
>
> We have known rotating space colonies were possible for more than 50
> years.  They provide one g and radiation shielding.


Yes, I think that habitats in orbit make more sense than colonies on planets. That would certainly solve the gravity problem, but it still leaves radiation shielding (there are ways to generate artificial magnetospheres, but you still need to replicate the effect of a couple of hundred miles of atmosphere, for shielding against high-energy neutral particles), which means a lot of extra mass, and the simple fact that we need a hell of a lot of oxygen, water, and food, as well as all the myriad other requirements of biological organisms, which contrasts very starkly with the probable requirements of uploads.

In practice, I think that if biological humans ever do live in space in any numbers, it will have to be preceded by upload colonisation and the creation of a lot of infrastructure, and the question remains: would it be worth the bother and expense? Especially when an uploading solution exists. You'd also have to haul tons and tons of fragile flesh up our steep gravity well, which is very expensive no matter how it's done, vs. a few watts of electricity to transmit some data.

The more I think about it, the less I think that 'monkeys in space' is a viable scenario.

-- 
Ben