Space Settlement

In regards to your comment about Present technology:
Quantum Computers absolutely do work, and they will be a huge
advantage to our civilization in the next 100 years. Off the top of my
head, the first 16 qubit quantum computer was tested on February 13
and 15, with a classical equivalent of 2^16 bits, or floating point
operations, which is about 65,536. A professor from Caltech told me
this summer that once we reach around 300 qubits, things will get
"interesting", and these adiabatic quantum computers have been leading
the way.

As for the "extra senses" and the neural network, I know for a fact
that the Navy Seals have been testing some amazing technology which
can "input" information straight from a computer, to our brains, as a
new sense, using 16x16 electrical grids that are placed on your
tongue, or back (?) or another large nerve center. The applications
for this technology are just about endless, and it is a non-invasive
way to add computing power to the human brain.

Now, of course, these technologies must be developed further, but the
basics are already there.

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Lucio de Souza Coelho"
wrote:
>
> On 3/16/07, tom.bielecki wrote:
> (...)
> > Hello, my name is Tom Bielecki, and i am a 17 year old studnet from
> > Calgary, Canada.
>
> Welcome on board, Tom!
>
> (...)
> > My settlement so far is a torus, with a major radius of 2 or 3
KM, and
> > a minor radius of 1.5 KM. Do you think that this spinning colony
> > should have a "ceiling" to hold in the atmosphere? if it does,
then it
> > blocks all UV light, needed by living organisms (which can be created
> > artificially with lights), if it doesn't have a ceiling, then
> > particles might enter the atmosphere, we would have natural UV, and,
> > hey, it would look cool. What do you think?
>
> Of course your torus will need a "ceiling", otherwise air will escape
> to space. Actually, the residential and agricultural sectors of it
> need to be completely enclosed annd pressurized. UV light is no
> problem, since you can project glass windows with filters that let the
> desired amount of UV in sunlight enter the colony. (Remember that most
> of the UV will have to be filtered, for in fact there is *too much* UV
> in sunlight in space. On Earth the UV is nearly completely filtered by
> the ozone layer, which is good.) Another solution (which may be more
> complicated) is to completely enclose the habitable space in some sort
> of opaque material and use artificial lighting. (Again, you can always
> engineer lamps that give off UV in frequencies and intensities similar
> to those found on Earth surface. And in agricultural sectors you may
> indeed change completely the spectrum of the light in order to
> maximize crop production.)
>
> > I am planning on the settlement being a technological cocoon for the
> > settlers (starting: 500,000 ?). This would allow the citizens to live
> > IN technology, rather than WITH technology. Nerve centers on the body
> > will be able to create more senses in the body... possibly even a
> > telecommunications link between individuals, to "hear what they hear"
> > "know what they know" "feel what they feel." I am looking at creating
> > somewhat Post-human citizens, who are in a symbiosis with the
> > technology around them. Only basic education will be needed. When a
> > person does not understand, or know something, they can interact with
> > the colony's data center, which can feed information at the required
> > time, to the required individual. It will be like a wikipedia,
> > accessed by all, at any time. This will truly be a utopian
society. No
> > government. No disease. No money. No businesses. No services. People
> > FOR the people. It will be fundamentally basic, on the social level,
> > yet highly advanced, and observed, at the technological level. Only
> > the best of the best will be chosen to live here, in the Lagrange
> > orbit, L5. A quantum computer, and server hive will reside in the
> > center of the colony, provided (near) instant answers to all of
life's