E110 FA19 Class Blog

Space colonization, or what can also be referred to as space settlement and extraterrestrial colonization, is permanent human habitation in places in the solar system besides Earth. There are many different opinions on both sides of space colonization. There are many obstacles that would have to be tackled prior in order to seriously consider space colonization. Not one space colony has ever been built, therefore, this is not a plausible idea. There is an abundance of technological and economic issues that you would run into with colonizing in outer space. It is not a realistic project and should not be entertained.

The economic obstacles when it comes to space colonization are astronomical. It is an incredible cost to send anything into orbit. However, sending the supplies, manpower, and people, in order to inhibit a whole space colony, would cost the government or any private organization an insane amount of money. In my opinion, this unrealistic amount of money does not in any way outweigh the comparatively small advances that some space colonization could bring.

The main argument for space colonization is the prospect of long-term survival of human civilization. This survival rate is said to long surpass that on Earth. It is believed by some that by developing places to live outside of Earth, that those who inhabit the planet would be able to continue living in the event of a disaster striking planet Earth. However, there is no reason for this to occur. The resources to complete this idea are unavailable and there are issues far more pressing than space colonization.

More than once, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argued for space colonization as a means of saving humanity. Hawking predicted that the human race would become extinct within the next thousand years unless colonies could be established in space. He later stated that humanity faces one of two dire options. Humans could either colonize space within at most the next two hundred years and build residential units on other planets, or everyone will face the prospect of complete extinction. I think that nature should be allowed to run its course and we, as a human race, should not make inhabitable planets into a place to live if it will take an incredible amount of technological advancement along with funds.

Therefore, space colonization should not be a discussion that the human race is having at all. It is an unrealistic solution to an even more pressing issue. The money that would need to be spent in order to achieve this goal would be a complete waste of an astronomical amount of money.

Space colonization is the future because if studies are right, we are going to have to leave the planet soon. Honestly, it could save the human race sooner or later. It is probably a good idea for lots of reasons like saving the human race. There are also lots of resources to use in space, like, “The Solar System alone has, according to different estimates, enough material and energy to support anywhere from several thousand to over a billion times that of the current Earth-based human population (“Reasons” paragraph)”. That is a lot of energy that is not being used. Or maybe there are aliens in our solar system that are using up the energy.

I wonder how they calculate the energy from a place that we don’t live on. A good idea would be to leave our solar system so see what other stuff is outside it. I know right now it probably isn’t ideal because we dont have the technology to do that yet, or maybe we do. Maybe in 20 years we will have the technology to go outside the solar system and find a better way to live.

It is our fault that we made the Earth inhabitable, but there could be a chance to find a better place to live. If we go somewhere bigger than Earth, overpopulation wouldn’t be a problem, which is a good thing. I feel like going to the moon wouldn’t be a good idea, because we need the moon and sun to live on Earth, so I think we should go somewhere like Mars or something. Overall, we don’t have a lot of time and we need to find somewhere habitable in our solar system or outside of it.

The Fermi Paradox is really an argument based off of empirical evidence that there is extraterrestrial life out there, despite the extreme lack of evidence. It is named after physicist Enrico Fermi, who in 1950 mentioned the idea while out for a lunch with coworkers, having casual conversation. They started talking about their UFO reports and Fermi exclaimed “Where is everybody?” Everyone laughed nervously. After that Michael H. Hart who wrote a paper and formulated and examined the paradox in 1975. The argument covers not only the fact that there is extraterrestrial life out there, but also why they haven’t communicated with us.

They base their beliefs off of several observations. They believe that the scale of space is so large, even infinite.The large scale combines with the high probability that there is intelligent life out there because there are a billion planets and suns out in space and in the milky way. The probability is also high because of the frequency that intelligent life overcomes scarcity and colonizes new environments. This is also supported by various astronomer accounts of UFO’s Hart calculated the probability through Drake’s equation, which was formed in 1961 by Frank Drake to evaluate different probabilities of extraterrestrial life existing.

This equation led to many different results and was used by both sides of the argument. There are some probabilities that there could be up to 100,000,000 civilizations in the Milky Way, which is used by the optimists of the Fermi Paradox. However, some combinations show the probability of less than one civilization in our galaxy, which is taken advantage of by the pessimists of the paradox.

According to another physicist, human beings might not be ready for higher beings to contact us. Some explanations also mention that aliens have already contacted us and we haven’t been listening correctly and that they have already been to Earth. Others say that aliens might not have the technological advances to communicate with us or that they are too far apart from us in space and time. Studies are being done now to see if scientists can make an object travel at the speed of light, which could also be applied to space exploration

I find the topic of transhumanism a very interesting one for the reason its has such a conserversity surrounding it. One of whether if we should do it because it goes against what people believe. More so because of the church beliefs on not messing with and how things are. But we as a society believe if we have the ability to make things better we want to do it. We also imagine about in the films we have made such as aliens, and Titan that have elements of transhumanism in them. When it comes to doing it we really dont have a problem with it but their are laws that prevent them from doing it to humans subjects. But we have already done this with other creatures such as the goats that have genecticaly mutated with spider dna so that we can collect spider-silk from the milk of the goats.

Space Colonization is the permanent human habitation off the plant earth, according to Wikipedia. This is the new way that many humans can leave the planet and live a sustainable life. There have been many arguments back and forth about whether space colonization is good or bad. Space colonization can have a really positive benefit on the human race. I believe that space colonization can be a really unique way to extend human life beyond the plant Earth.

The primary argument for Space Colonization is that it’ll allow humans to survive longer and extend the human race. Scientist Steven Hawkins argued that space colonization can save humanity. In 2001, he predicted that in the next thousand years humanity would become extinct unless we colonized in space. Another argument made for space colonization was by Louis J. Halle, formerly in the United States Department of State, where he stated that space colonization will protect humanity in the event of global nuclear warfare. Physicist Paul Davies supports this idea and states that t if a planetary catastrophe threatens the survival of the human species on Earth, a self-sufficient colony could “reverse-colonize”. It is important to have this space colonization as a backup cause with the many political issues arising across the globe, we can have somewhere to stay safe from any disaster.

I believe that as technology advances over the years something like space colonization can be possible. Being able to send humans to another planet and have it be habitable would be incredible. Space colonization can change the entire world as we know it and it’d be amazing to see life beyond what we know.

In today’s day and age, space exploration has become a growing subject of interest as more and more people are beginning to grow curious about space and its contents. Some even desire to build colonies in space and have humans begin living on other plants. Space colonization should be supported because in the not so far future, it may be necessary to preserve the human race in case of an event making Earth uninhabitable.

As many likely know, the Earth is upon trying times. Many countries and their leaders are experiencing tension and disagreements, and most of them have nuclear weapons on the tips of their fingers. Climate change is showing to be a serious issue, and may soon be irreversible. In the event of nuclear war or a climate emergency, the Earth may prove uninhabitable and humans would go extinct. If we were to build colonies in outer space, humans would have another shot at survival and another plant to hopefully not destroy.

Steven Hawking agrees with this viewpoint. He predicted that humans would go extinct in the next thousand years and if we do not colonize other planets in the next 200 years, we risk long term extinction. Hawking was a respected and well known cosmetologist, meaning his predictions have a good shot at becoming reality.

This might not be as far a reach as we might think. In 2005, the then NASA administrator Michael Griffin “identified space colonization as the ultimate goal of current spaceflight programs.” He discussed how single-planet species will not be able to survive in the long run, and if humans want to survive for many more years, we must colonize other planets.

There was a theoretical study of the long term trajectory of human civilization in 2019, and there was a four step sequence developed in which the astronomical trajectory of mankind is heading. We will first grow dependant colonies, then they will grow independent, then they can begin exploring space, then they will begin to colonize. This process, although difficult, could be the key to human preservation.

Space colonization could be necessary for the preservation of the human species. The human race faces threats that may only be solvable by exploring in space and colonizing new planets. It is important that we, as a race, begin developing colonization ideas and tactics and start programs. If we fail to do this soon, humans are looking at extinction.

Of all ideas mankind has ever deigned to fathom, which would be the most dangerous to bring to life? The answer lies in a topic only ever brought to life within stories told by authors such as Margaret Atwood and characters from the X-men. Transhumanism is defined as a “philosophical movement that advocates for the transformation of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellect and physiology,” which essentially pushes the human body beyond disease and disability by developing technology that is accessible by most, if not all. Although the idea of transhumanism appears to be a good idea on the surface, the improbability and unethical aspects presents transhumanism as a concept that can escalate and turn dangerous.

Everywhere we look, there appears to be new, almost radical, technology being created and available–albeit to a very niche crowd. Cochlear implants allow the deaf to hear, Tesla’s autopilot will eradicate the need for drivers. There is; however, a risk to each of these technologies. Despite being able to improve the quality of living and having positive impacts, there is a line that must be drawn.

Robots, software, AI, etc. will soon advance far more than it already has. Within a few decades, the hundreds of thousands of people who die unnecessary deaths will have technology that exists to help them. The basic aim, of course, appears to be to improve to human condition. However, we do have to consider the fact that transhumanism doesn’t extrapolate from current technology and trends, it fulfills the wants of human desires. People have always looked into immortality, of super strength, etc. but technology can only go wrong from that concept–we have seen this from almost every sci-fi movie ever. Anyone would love to cure blindness, Alzheimers, dementia, but gaining research opportunities and resources is only getting more difficult. There is nothing to point out that death or aging can ever get abolished.

To begin with, it is getting harder for the feasibility of these cures to be developed. Socially, it is unacceptable to have these concepts brought to life. If we look at genetic engineering, many places have different ideologies and acceptance levels than others. We inherently pass judgement on things, we do not want to see things as wholly acceptable. Discourse is always a thing; it is especially prevalent in our society.

What constitutes as improvement anyways? Culture in a set community of people is already a thing–it makes sense for everyone to want to be completely healthy–but what constitutes a “perfect” or “ideal” person? It is all up to perspective. What may be considered a negative trait to one person may be construed as a positive one to someone else. How do we know these technologies will even be dispersed fairly–even at all? How will we know that new technologies will lead to abundance for everyone, rather than leading to more polarization between those with money and power and those without? Equality and equity does not exist in this state, when people have the opportunity to have power, they take it.

People already have their own ideas of who they are as people, what it means to have a community and what it means to have their own ways of going through life. Many ideas of transhumanism are improbable–in creation and distributing, the technology is unreliable and cannot be expected to end up even existing, and is damaging to the way we consider technology.

One of the biggest problems humans face today is climate change. Many speculate on the best way to combat it and not have it wipe out the human race. One way a lot of scientists talk about and believe is the future is moving to another planet. From the beginning of time humans have always wanted to go off and explore new lands. Where it was Europeans discovering a new area of land in the 1400’s or when Americans explored the west in manifest destiny. So now that all of the Earth has been explored and colonized it is on to humans to explore space.

Space colonization would help the climate crisis but it would not be the whole solution. It would allow some people to live on other planets and harvest the resources from them but that is a long term solution. In the short run carbon emissions are going to have to be cut down. In the long term moving a lot of the earths population to other planets after making them habitable will help cut down on carbon emissions and other pollution that humans produce.

Though space colonization may seem far away it is coming sooner than most people realize. With men like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos putting some of their wealth and power to complete this task some huge strides have been made and the future looks promising. It is estimated that people will be launched to the moon by 2024. This is a huge stepping stone for space colonization and shows that space colonization will be in the near future.

From the start of our history classes, in the United States, we are taught about what colonization is. When we are in elementary school, we learn how America was formed from the original 13 colonies of England. As we get older, we learn that America was not the only country that was once a group of colonies. Students are taught about the European race to colonize the continent of Africa, and then some. While colonization has been outdated for the most part, in the twenty-first century, there is a possibility for it to continue off of Earth. Space colonization is exactly what it sounds like, the colonization of space, but where can we do that? How can we do it? Should we or shouldn’t we? TV Shows like “The 100” and movies like “Avatar” explore the need for space colonization and exploration. There are a variety of pros and cons to this debate, but while we may not have the technology and resources to begin right now, I am in favor of space colonization for the sake of saving humanity, Earth, and space exploration.

Humanity is, as far as we know it, the only advanced living species in the universe. All of humanity has lived on Earth since our evolution. If there were to be a planetary disaster, whether man-made or natural, the human race would go extinct, unless we found another way. As global warming becomes a lingering issue, we are rushing to find new ways to save the Earth. What if we can’t save Earth in time? We need to start looking towards moving humanity elsewhere. If the Earth becomes uninhabitable, we need to find a way to keep our species alive and space colonization could be the answer. In the event of a disaster, we could move to planets or celestial bodies that scientists have deemed to be closest to the Earth, in terms of human habitation. Examples of these would be: Earth’s moon, Mars, Jupiter’s moon Europa, or Saturn’s moon Titan. If we could start trying to put projects together for the creation of space colonies in at least one of these places, right now, we would be ahead of the game. 

The Earth may not last forever, but as the only place completely habitable at the moment, we need to find ways to save it. There are options on the planet that people are trying to stop climate change, among other things, space colonization is a way to help this. If we move people to colonies in space, it will help with many things on Earth. It would solve the problem of overpopulation and cut back on the use of electricity and the use of natural resources. People in space would also be able to explore their new homes and expand into space, should they have the ability to do so. Space exploration within and around new colonies could lead to people finding more natural resources, not only for themselves, but to send to Earth. The article says: “The Solar System alone has, according to different estimates, enough material and energy to support anywhere from several thousand to over a billion times that of the current Earth-based human population”. This means that there are more than enough resources to replenish the population on Earth and those in colonies.

Humanity cannot wait until the last second to try space colonization because mother nature won’t wait for disaster and war comes up at any moment.

In the past decade, there has been more thought into the idea of habituating other planets in order to extend the human race’s survival in the universe. With modern day technology, the thought of doing this can only be drawn out, written, or simulated in video games and movies; but the reality of the future health of our planet can be of concern to some and has led many people to speculate ways to further the human race. I believe if we wait long enough for technology to improve and for more people to become concerned with space colonization, we will be able to colonize other Earth-like planets outside of our solar system or planets that offer valuable resources. We have discovered over 80 naturally occurring elements on our planet that are used for powering our cities, fueling our cars, and feeding our people. Unfortunately, these elements do not last forever, and synthetically creating these elements hasn’t yielded results equivalent to natural elements. The universe is unknown, meaning there are unknown possibilities in the universe that can help us survive in the future. The problem with this is that these possibilities are, well unknown, and we don’t have many places in mind on where to look for these resources and having the means to get these resources is well out of the equation. We can, however, hypothesis ways in getting these resources and using them to benefit our civilization. In fact, we have been hypothesizing these ways for years now, some are taken into careful consideration and others are for pure entertainment. There have been many TV shows, movies, and video games made that all depict the various ways the future of the human race, or other species like aliens, can evolve into. Of course, their ideas aren’t taken in with consideration on if their idea is actually possible and its sole purpose is for entertainment. They do, however, provide a useful insight into the possibilities the future may possibly hold for us and provide a type of brainstorming method in where no ideas are shot down to maximize ideas for future space travel. Many researchers and scientists are trying to find new, feasible ways to acquire more resources without consideration of cost. Some are considering mining asteroids that are almost entirely made out of certain elements such as gold or iron. We have just recently landed a probe on a moving asteroid so this theory can be very possible in the future. There are also many theories that our planet is not the only Earth-like in the universe. So if we can travel to another planet that provides the essential living components, like on Earth, we can hope that this new planet has enough resources to last us for many more years. The common problem these ideas share is that they will all take a lot of time and a lot of money to create and put into effect. This is where the concern comes into play on whether these ideas are actually worth implementing in the future as they may fail and end up being a huge waste of time and money. We cannot answer these questions now and must continue research to find answers to these questions in the mean time. Though I am optimistic that space travel, colonization, and mining is possible.