Paraterraforming vs. terraforming the Moon and Mars

On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 11:16 AM, William wrote:
>
> No new paradigm needed. The space between the galaxies is not empty.
> It has stars distributed throughout intergalactic space. One study
> estimates it to be 0.05% of all stars are "stellar outcasts", which
> for the Local Group of galaxies would amount to over a billion stars.
> Probably more brown dwarfs, free-floating planets, large comets, etc.
>
> These could be used as stepping stones.
(...)

Also, over very long time scales (hundreds of millions of years)
galaxies collide with each other. Sometimes they fuse with, sometimes
they pass through each other. So, a cheap and convenient way for a
galactic civilization to do intergalactic travel would be just waiting
for such a collision. Sure, it requires a lot of civilizational
longevity and patience :), but I guess that a galactic civilization
would need both to exist...

(The rationale above also applies to interstellar travel. Every
million years or so a neighbor star gets so close to the Sun that many
of the difficulties of interstellar travel can be overcome in a much
easier way.)