Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Catch 22

The third diaspora
Hank — (archived)

Man first moved out of the wilderness onto the farm. Then off the farm into the city. Perhaps the next step is off the planet onto a zero-gee orbital colony. There does seem to be a certain inevitability to it. The orbital colony is probably no more an alien, artificial environment for us than a great city was for a farmer, or a permanent village for a hunter gatherer.

But cultural changes happen much faster than evolutionary ones, we still evolved for the savannah and the forest, and every move since has
been undertaken at great cost, in spite of the practical benefits that led us to it.

As for my personal tastes, the solar system isn't enough. Perhaps someone should write a novel about the citizens of a fully settled and exploited solar system complaining about their government's expensive interstellar exploration program. "We've got plenty of problems that need solving right here in the asteroid belt, why do we need to go to Barnard's Star?"

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