farmerman wrote:If youre talking about staying just inside our cosmic "backyard" of course thats a possibility. We could terraform Mars perhaps. But actualdeep space insertion of our species will not include the actual transport of human receptacles. Waay too much time will be involved.
I think we need to start with solar system and orbital habitats before we attempt colonization between stars.
Not only would short distance colonization give us a lot of the necessary experience with planet colonization, but its also the quickest way to get our eggs out of one basket. We're never going to be able to protect the Earth because there will always be something we didn't think of... Yellowstone Caldera, or massive Pandemic. The only way to solve the 'one basket' problem is to get more baskets. Just building big defenses around our 'one basket' doesn't really address the core problem.
Also, I'm guessing we have maybe a thousand years to work with before something nasty hits or explodes or infects. We'll probably get a Pandemic in the next few years, but hopefully it won't exterminate us. The Yellowstone Caldera (and others) is a much bigger problem.
Of course, if we develop Landis fields or Alderson drives, then the whole game changes.
