I haven't chimed in all that much, because I find this to be a more or less pointless discussion. Here's why:
1. We will never, EVER colonize other planets. It has been nearly a half-century since human beings landed on the moon. If the political and public will was there, Luna City would be a going concern and the Goddard Colonies on Mars would be working towards self sufficiency.
2. We aren't going to build planets or Dyson spheres/swarms or ringworlds. The resources and money simply don't exist for projects of this magnitude. The ISS cost something in the neighbourhood of $150 billion US, and the most people it can sustain at one time is about a dozen. Doing a rough straight-line extrapolation (clumsy, I know), building something in space to sustain just 1000 people would cost twelve thousand trillion dollars. Building something to house any appreciable fraction of humanity would cost a number of dollars so big that it doesn't mean anything.
3. For much the same reason as #2 (coupled with what are very likely insurmountable technical difficulties), we aren't leaving this solar system.
There is only one piece of worthwhile real estate available to us as a species, and we happen to be standing on it.
Boru
1. We will never, EVER colonize other planets. It has been nearly a half-century since human beings landed on the moon. If the political and public will was there, Luna City would be a going concern and the Goddard Colonies on Mars would be working towards self sufficiency.
2. We aren't going to build planets or Dyson spheres/swarms or ringworlds. The resources and money simply don't exist for projects of this magnitude. The ISS cost something in the neighbourhood of $150 billion US, and the most people it can sustain at one time is about a dozen. Doing a rough straight-line extrapolation (clumsy, I know), building something in space to sustain just 1000 people would cost twelve thousand trillion dollars. Building something to house any appreciable fraction of humanity would cost a number of dollars so big that it doesn't mean anything.
3. For much the same reason as #2 (coupled with what are very likely insurmountable technical difficulties), we aren't leaving this solar system.
There is only one piece of worthwhile real estate available to us as a species, and we happen to be standing on it.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
