Quote:
Originally Posted by dissentowner
What do they have to lose though? Stay and die for sure or go and have tiny chance.
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But that's not a real dilemma, it's a science fiction plot. "Oh, our planet is doomed, so the only option is creating a massive spaceship to travel to a new system." It's far more realistic that if the earth was doomed, one easier solution would be to build massive floating colonies in orbit around the sun (or around the remains of the earth).
You avoid the nearly impossible problems of powering a ship with high energy needs (and thus far only super-unlikely theoretical propulsion systems) across vast distances with no power source, not to mention the ridiculous risks associated with the trip.
On the other hand, there's nothing involving massive space colonies that's really that far-fetched. You mine asteroids for minerals, develop self-replicating manufacturing robots for most of the construction and assembly, all solar powered, and work out the logistics of biodomes, radiation, gravity, enough propulsion to maintain orbit, etc. Obviously it's technology we're nowhere close to having today, but given an ultimatum, we could probably develop that technology in a couple generations.