Interstellar travel

From: "John Wheeler"
To:
Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2001 6:51 AM
Subject: [spacesettlers] Re: Interstellar travel

[snikt]
> Just like lots more people came over to America from Europe via steam
> powered ships than on the Mayflower. But the countries like Germany
> and Italy who waited until steam ships were available before starting
> their colonization efforts found that all the good spots were taken.
>

This historical precedent is not appliable to interstellar travel simply
because the number of "good spots" is basically unlimited. Suppose that,
along 500 years, a first wave of "slow" interstellar colonists settles in
all the planetary systems in a radius of 50 light-years. Then, someone at
Sol discovers a practical way to do faster-than-light or relativistic
travel. After that, in only, say, 100 years, a second wave of "fast"
colonists could settle in all the systems in the layer from 50 to 100 light
years. Since this second layer has a volume seven times larger than the
first one, it probably has seven times more "good spots" than the first
one - and the "fast" colonists would not be beated simply because they
departed later.

> --JohnWheeler
[snikt]

--LucioCoelho