The Discovery Enterprise: Evacuate Earth

On 2/13/13 7:32 AM, Combs, Mike wrote:

> Yes, I too have found it odd that even when thinkers correctly realize
> that a starship with any realistic propulsion system would, of
> necessity, wind up essentially being an O'Neill habitat, they then seem
> to utterly fail to understand that having such technology in hand would
> be a game-changer for what you would do on arriving at the other star
> system. It's also not widely appreciated that such technology makes all
> other star systems targets for settlement, not just the ones with
> Earthlike planets or Sol-like spectral features.

Indeed, it means that we wouldn't need to leave the Sol system just
because the Earth got ripped apart. We've got a nice steady sun, and
lots of raw materials (which would be even more accessible under this
scenario). Everything we need to live would be right here. We would
simply transform from a one-planet species, cooped up at one point in
space, to a cloud of millions of habitats, swarming around the solar system.

One wrinkle this neutron-star notion would bring is that it would make
all orbits quite chaotic. So our space colonies would need to be built
with strong engines, and perhaps be kept smaller and more maneuverable
than otherwise, as they'll need to be constantly moving around to avoid
collisions and gather resources.

> The idea of finding and colonizing an "Earth 2" in another solar system
> is such a ubiquitous feature of science fiction that it now has a very
> strong hold even on those attempting to do serious thinking about our
> future beyond Earth. It's a wrench for them to consider any other
> alternative.

Quite so, and that's unfortunate. In the long run, I doubt it matters
-- when the time comes, orbital colonies WILL happen, because they are
so much more sensible than any alternative. Planetary colonies will
happen too, for romantic reasons, and that's fine. But when human
population numbers in the trillions, I doubt most of those will be
living on planets.

Still, the focus on finding an "Earth 2" is a distraction. It makes
most people think that moving off Earth is something to consider
thousands of years from now, instead of in this century, and therefore
not something to really strive for.