Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Engineering Aliens - Think of Ayn Rand and Robert Heinlein

FAST interstellar travel has a lot of hurdles for us at present
Socrates II — (archived)

But if you don't mind spending a few generations getting to another
star system, that is technologically plausible. Of course there are
issues with the multigenerational starship concept, but unlike say
fusion or antimatter drives, it is not out of the realm of reality.

Not if you don't mind taking a century or so getting to the nearby star
systems, the Orion nuclear pulse concept is one other method that we
implement in our lifetimes. In fact we could have had it a long while
back, except that the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban treaty forbidding nuclear
detonations in space halted Orion in its tracks.

Regarding economics and aliens, I want to think that advanced societies
would have gotten past our issues regarding money, but unless these
beings can pull resources out of the vacuum or are some kind of pure
mind/energy beings, they will need resources and room to grow just like
any other life form.

Perhaps another constraint to the spread of ETI life in the galaxy is
that if a society already occupies a solar system, then it is off limits to
any non-natives. I know our history shows a serious lack of regard for
the rights of others to their property and land, but maybe those who
can ply the stars and realize they are in a galaxy of 400 billion star
systems have the nobility and rationality to respect the planetary land
claims of others.

Either that or the Galactic Empire's fleet of star destroyers just hasn't
gotten to our sector yet.

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