this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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I've had a fantasy since I was young that I would live to see some start to building colonies on the moon or Mars. The older I get and realize how vast the distances are between the earth, the moon, Mars and anything else, I've realized that I don't think we'll ever really leave earth in anything more than to go into orbit around earth. People are very tied to the environment that we formed in and taking that with us to another planet will be prohibitively expensive and refreshing supplies to support that can largely only be done on earth.
Now I believe people won't make any permanent settlement outside of earth in my lifetime or ever.
Ever is a very long time. We have the technology today to build a colony on the Moon and on Mars.
When something is a science problem (i.e. - warp drive) we might never achieve it, because it might not even be possible.
When something is an engineering problem (i.e. - just bigger rockets) we ALWAYS eventually get there. It just takes a small group of people with the right motivation to get it done.
If humanity survives into the future without regressing technologically, I think it's very likely that humanity will expand into space. Yes, the earth is very habitable, but space is abundant in resources if we can get to them, as well as opening up a new world of manufacturing due to no space or gravity limitations. Possibly will be necessary for future research and science as well, as ever more demanding experiments will be desired.
Once space infrastructure gets really going, I think space will be a very natural environment to expand into. And that will also imply at least semi-permanent habitats.