Space Colonies

[Sam Carana]

About a month ago, on June 13, the topic of Space Colonies received a
boost when astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said at a conference in Hong
Kong that humans must establish a base on the moon and colonize Mars
within the next 40 years if we're to avoid extinction from global
warming or another catastrophe.

"It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the
survival of the species," Hawking said, "Life on Earth is at the
ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden
global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other
dangers we have not yet thought of."

I wonder if anyone at the group here has some thoughts on this.

Cheers!
Sam Carana

[Prakash Krishnamoorthy]

Dear Humanities

 

               I would like to argue that surviving wars and disaters in this world is lucky enough. I would 'rebel' against term colonies since overtly or covertly relates to imperalistic ambitions.

Prakash

 

[Sam Carana]

Good point, I agree that the word "colony" should be avoided.

Perhaps even the term "space" is too much associated with the "space race" of the Cold War.

Would something like "establishing habitats outside earth" be a more appropriate phrase?
 

Cheers
Sam Carana

[Prakash Krishnamoorthy]

Dear Humanities

                 It is imperalistic ambitions I am protesting ignorance. Well it would be a feat in itself some of world's poor would get rehabilitated in Moon!

 

Yours Truly

Praskash

 

[Sam Carana]

Does that mean that you support the idea? Personally, I think it's
something that we should work on, but I'd hate to see nations like the
US and Russia get into another space race to see who can grab the most
and the best territory, say on the moon. I suggest that we don't rely
on NASA to come up with plans. Any other views?

Cheers!
Sam Carana

[Prakash Krishnamoorthy]

Dear Humanities

 

It is awfull quizzing going on here. Would deprivation in this world end as is the claim is? The answer lies in pratial truth. What about complicated cost calculations?

 

Prakash

 

On 7/16/06, Sam Carana <sam.c...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Sam Carana]

In his book 'The High Frontier' (William Morrow 1977), the late physics Professor Gerard K. O'Neill described how people  could one day live in space, generate energy and grow food. The book followed 'The Colonization of Space', published in 1974 in Physics Today. This shows that contemplation of space colonization (in terms of engineering and financing, rather than as science-fiction) dates back a long time. As said, I think that one of the problems today is that NASA monopolizes the funding for such projects, resulting in stagnation and waste. Instead, NASA should be split up with the resulting parts competing for clients without collusion, which will allow customers to contribute more directly to projects. Tax deductions and vouchers could assist such reform.  

 

Cheers!

Sam Carana

 

On 7/16/06, Prakash Krishnamoorthy <krishn...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Humanities

 

It is awfull quizzing going on here. Would deprivation in this world end as is the claim is? The answer lies in pratial truth. What about complicated cost calculations?

 

Prakash