Posted by andsoitis 1 day ago
they don't even know how to keep astronauts from going blind or losing muscle function
space and space travel really really wants to kill life
even Mars is going to be a one-way trip with very very short lifespan after that from all the radiation
really makes you appreciate Earth's protective atmosphere and magnetosphere (and gravity)
only clever idea I've seen is basically taking all the water you'd have to bring with you and turning it into a shield around the ship and using insane levels of recycling to maintain it
Take each reason supporting why humans cannot leave the solar system, and ask, over time, through obviously controversial modifications, why we couldn't mangle ourselves sufficiently to challenge each of these reasons.
And on the energy side, can we really predict that? We have government officials testifying on witnessing UAP, with a high probability that if they did really see anything at all, it was of human origin. Whatever that tech is, if we are not factoring it, then the "never" becomes a bit subject to questioning.
What is fringe today, and either taken for granted, dismissed, or simply overlooked, can quickly change, especially with colossal compute behind it. I often imagine how far we'd be if we actually gave that whole 'capitalism' thing a chance, without all the putrid patent slop, and other little complicating factors eg, Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 (35 U.S.C. §§ 181–188), 28 U.S.C. § 1498, etc, not to mention greed, monopolies, and dozens of equally formidable factors.
Even a subtle difference of governance can offer a subtle, but reasonable example of how development is effected by policy, as seen with China.