Would it be possible to colonise the galaxy today?

By the way, I forgot to mention that the "cometary diffusion" method that I
mentioned in my reply to mat2011 would take hundreds of thousands of years
to take us to the nearest stars, and hundreds of *millions* of years to
spread Humanity (or, better saying, things that descended from us)
throughout the galaxy. But hey, we will start the process the day we build
the first space settlement! ;-)

Lucio Coelho

From:
To:
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: [spacesettlers] Would it be possible to colonise the galaxy
today?

> My answer to mat2011 is a set of questions:
> What would possess you to want to "colonise the galaxy today" when the
> Moon is right next door and there are thousands of Near Earth Objects
> available for use in relative close proximity to Earth?
> Are you aware that there are viable alternatives to living on planetary
> surfaces? If not, then please go to http://www.ssi.org/ and order
> O'Neill's book (or simply go get it at your local Barnes & Noble). We
> don't have to "colonise the galaxy" in order to find quality places to
> live; we can manufacture quality places to live.
> There are an estimated 1.1 to 1.9 million asteroids in the Inner Solar
> System. How long do you think it will take for human civilization to
> exhaust that vast resource? Given your answer, is it useful to discuss
> the question "Would it be possible to colonise the galaxy today?" Your
> question is not a relevant question for me, nor for my children, nor for
> my children's children; it is useless to discuss such things.
> Are you aware that the 1.1 to 1.9 million estimate does not include the
> thousands of asteroids orbiting the L4 and L5 points of the Jupiter-Sun
> system (the so-called Jupiter Trojans)?
> Are you aware that there is yet another 'asteroid belt' outside the orbit
> of Neptune, possibly larger than the asteroid belt in the Inner Solar
> System?
> Are you aware that there is an "Oort cloud" of resources yet even further
> out from the Sun?
>
> Given the vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast,
> vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast
> amount of resources in our own Solar System, why are you asking the
> question "Would it be possible to colonise the galaxy today?"?
>
> Ron
> ******
[snikt]