Space Discussion Thread

[Rivem]

I don't really want to plug politics into this thread, but this is also why an eventual global government, and universal level of care is crucial.

This is probably the only way we could ever really have some serious space colonization efforts too. As long as there's serious resource disparity and political conflict in the world, we really can't focus and unite to pull off such a massive undertaking like full scale space colonization.

 

[NightExplorer96]

This is probably the only way we could ever really have some serious space colonization efforts too. As long as there's serious resource disparity and political conflict in the world, we really can't focus and unite to pull off such a massive undertaking like full scale space colonization.

Yep! Hopefully one of these days people can finally realize how we must bond together!

-Alex

 

[GSS]

What if the population grew to a trillion? Would this population be to heavy for the earth to support? Would the earth fall and where?

I'm open to all the blasting that I think i'm gonna get

 

[NightExplorer96]

What if the population grew to a trillion? Would this population be to heavy for the earth to support? Would the earth fall and where?

I'm open to all the blasting that I think i'm gonna get

Impossible to get that high GSS. If instantly the population became 1 trillion, in a couple days billions would die from lack of water, food and shelter(confronted to the elements such as heat, cold etc...)

It wouldn't be a fun time. Hec, at 30 billion it would be greatly pushing Earth's capacity already!

-Alex

 

[Razako]

What if the population grew to a trillion? Would this population be to heavy for the earth to support? Would the earth fall and where?

I'm open to all the blasting that I think i'm gonna get

20 billion or so would probably crush the carrying capacity of our planet. We could maybe reach 50 billion if everybody was a vegetarian and we had sustainable food/energy production. Past that.......Things might start to degrade.

Personally I think we have too many people now. Ideal population would be between 500mil-1billion. Then people wouldn't even need to live in the bad areas and climates of the world. Can't humans be smarter than the bacteria in a dish who reproduce till they all die?

 

[Rivem]

What if the population grew to a trillion? Would this population be to heavy for the earth to support? Would the earth fall and where?

I'm open to all the blasting that I think i'm gonna get

Assuming that this is in a period of time when we can easily build over all terrain, and people were spread evenly, the population density would be just over 5000 per square mile. This would make all of the land of Earth into a megacity with the density over most US metro areas.

With the highest population density in Manilla of ~111,000 /sq mile, 1 trillion people would take up just about all of the North American continent at around ~9,000,000 sq miles.

I think that maybe 200 to 300 billion would be reasonable with densely populated, very high tech cities as long as the food could hold up. We'd probably need super advanced agricultural technology and tons of GMO crops. The water would be okay as long as we had plentiful power for desalination and wastewater reprocessing. Would likely be far from pleasant though.

Edit: Maybe even large-scale climate control?

 

[Razako]

 

[GSS]

How about this for add on. What is or is there a physical weight the earth can support. Like adding the weight of a planet like mars on it? This one was hard to press the post button:can:

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

How about this for add on. What is or is there a physical weight the earth can support. Like adding the weight of a planet like mars on it? This one was hard to press the post button:can:

The weight of the planet has remained relatively constant, and will remain constant, without resources brought in from off planet.

 

[ARG]

The weight of the planet has remained relatively constant, and will remain constant, without resources brought in from off planet.

and we can always send our garbage back out to equalize the mass

 

[NightExplorer96]

The weight of the planet has remained relatively constant, and will remain constant, without resources brought in from off planet.

Actually IE, I remember watching somewhere the Earth is actually losing mass every year. I can't remember at what amount, but it is.

-Alex

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Right, some atmosphere escapes every year, and iirc some mass is lost due to the core cooling, though I don't remember the mechanics behind that. Some mass is also gained from space dust, but it's an overall loss.

Relative to the earth as a whole, it's a very minuscule loss though, and very steady, so the mass is steady.

 

[Pi R Squared]

What if the population grew to a trillion? Would this population be to heavy for the earth to support? Would the earth fall and where?

I'm open to all the blasting that I think i'm gonna get

Here is some blasting! :lasergun: A trillion people?! Ridiculous, you can't put an unlimited number of fish in an aquarium or if you put too many rats in a cage they will kill each other, humans will do the same. No matter how advanced our technology gets I can't see the earth supporting more than a lower 10's of billions of people, even that seems unlikely but technology could make it possible but there is a limit.

Alan

 

[Benm]

This is a very real, scary, and likely outcome. Ironically it could also lead to the stagnation of human development.

A genetic divide, and greater separation of society between essentially the have's and the have nots, is inevitable.

If the technology becomes available, this might indeed be true. Legislation will not stop this kind of thing either, wealthy people can just go to some country that does not ban genetic upgrading - which would be excellent business so i reckon there will be countries willing to facilitate just for the added revenue.

Changing peoples genetics against their will (or that of their parents) could be a bigger problem, but also an opportunity.

Schemes like creating a mindless automaton working class obviously come to mind as a rather evil application. Another controversial application could be influencing fertility. Reducing fertility can be a harsh measure but also effective in reducing overpopulation problems.

If you could, for example, somehow genetically modify women in such a way that they cannot have more than 3 children, this would be greatly helpful for places with problematically high fertility rates and no means to support the offspring. On the other hand it would have very limited downsides for western countries where people rarely have over 3 children and it would still allow reproduction at replacement rate or slightly over.

I don't condone altering peoples genetics without them choosing to do so, but realistically it could be a last resort solution if things spiral out of control otherwise.

 

[Skans]

had basically christians, muslims, and jews not basically freaked out about stem cells.

The opposition to stem cell research was based upon the federal (i.e. tax dollars) funding of this research which is/was reliant on aborted fetuses for stem cells. Creating an industry which needs a steady supply of aborted fetuses to function should "freak out" everyone. Especially when you are forcing EVERYONE to pay for this by giving taxpayer money to for this research.

Very few people who believe in God are freaked out about genetic research. It's the killing and mutilation of aborted fetuses for the "advancement of science" that gets us riled up.

 

[Skans]

The problem with altering a person's genetics is that it must take place before the person is born, at least for now and for the foreseeable future. That means that the person YOU decide should be genetically altered to some how benefit YOUR society has no say in the matter. This is the creating of a slave race for the sole purpose of serving one or a number of individuals who think they need humans that can do XYZ more efficiently. If you want to and are able to alter your own genetics (or have someone do this for you), then neither I or anyone else really cares - go for it!