[ExI] Leaving home civilisation

[BillK]

On Mon, 5 Oct 2020 at 04:23, spike jones via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> Did you fellers have the ExI Zhmooze without me while I was up in the mountains?
> Or has no one signed onto the idea yet?
>
> I haven’t had time to go thru my email.
> _______________________________________________


This is a common experience nowadays for people who disconnect from
the Web for a while. Spike only went for two days to live in the woods
with the bears.  :)   Two weeks away on holiday can leave people with
a huge amount of 'catching-up' to do on their return. This is why
smartphones now provide an almost permanent Web connection and people
find it nearly impossible to disconnect completely.  The cartoon of
family reunion dinners with everyone around the table busily staring
at their smartphones is very applicable.

This situation will only get worse as the Web social media penetrates
into more and more of our life. Think - working from home, Zoom
discussions, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube, etc.  Loss of
connection can cause psychological upset, even physical safety if news
of dangers is missed. or location data guidance lost.

So how will this progression affect space travel?
Will humans become more and more reluctant to venture far from
civilisation? (Except on very temporary journeys).
Will humans become more and more dependent on the world Hive-Mind?

The usual response is to say that there are always some adventurers
prepared to leave home and explore. But there are many differences
when comparing to past explorers.
Past explorers always had the expectation of returning home to fame
and possible riches. Long-term space exploration may well be a one-way
trip, never to return.
Past explorers weren't leaving an 'always-on' connection to the rest
of humanity. Yes, a mini-web can go with space explorers and there
will be a time-delayed connection to the home Web, but it will feel
detached from civilisation and perhaps emphasise their separation.
Earlier explorers could take supplies and also live off the land -
fish, game animals, plants, etc. Living off the land is not possible
for space explorers, so either continuous resupply missions will be
required or the expedition will have to be completely self-sufficient
in food, fuel and power supplies.

For the present, the combination of psychological and physical
problems make long-term space exploration a daunting task. Of course,
future (yet-to-be-invented) tech may make the physical task easier,
but maybe not solve the psychological problems.

BillK