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What mandates travel in an interstellar society?
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A while ago this question on medieval travel was asked. I looked at it again today and it got me thinking about situations that would mandate travel in other settings, in particular what would force individuals to travel across interstellar distances. Obviously the people furnishing the option to travel those distances must themselves be involved so ships' crews are on the list of those who must travel. Also if there is interstellar colonisation then obviously colonists have to travel between the stars to get new worlds.
So the question becomes; in a society spread across interstellar space what, if any, professions and/or situations, apart from crewing an interstellar vessel or colonising a new world, would absolutely require individuals to travel between worlds?
Good answers will include, and justify, only professions which can't possibly be practiced in a single solar system and situations that can't be resolved without leaving them lightyears behind.
Context notes, the setting has:
- completely safe, but quirky, non-instantaneous FTL Travel (average speed is 4 times the speed of light).
- no independent FTL Communication, the fastest way to get a message anywhere is usually by jumpship. Mailman is a secondary role of all legitimate ships' communication officers.
- travel for individuals is not free but it is, safe, cheap, and almost unrestricted (getting on or off a planet/habitat/station that has warrants out for your arrest is tricky but otherwise travel is normally easy, interstellar warrants are exceedingly rare; they're too awkward to enforce).
- humans are spread across hundreds of lightyears but have only densely colonised the star systems with 15-20 lightyears of Sol.
- large scale conflict is almost unheard of.
- individual star systems tend toward self-sufficiency but there is an overarching military-industrial command economy that ties all the heavily populated worlds together.
- trade in raw materials and fully integrated technological artifacts (like spaceships and orbital habitats and factories made to standard patterns) is reasonably common; this is the main reason that travel for individuals is so cheap and available, moving people is easy when you usually ship things the size of O'Neil cylinders.
- there is still material scarcity, some chemical elements are just too rare to create over supply in the current political-economic climate.
- while leisure time is generally more available most people still work for a living most places, just not as constantly or intensively as in the modern western world in most cases.
society faster-than-light interstellar-travel
asked 7 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
A while ago this question on medieval travel was asked. I looked at it again today and it got me thinking about situations that would mandate travel in other settings, in particular what would force individuals to travel across interstellar distances. Obviously the people furnishing the option to travel those distances must themselves be involved so ships' crews are on the list of those who must travel. Also if there is interstellar colonisation then obviously colonists have to travel between the stars to get new worlds.
So the question becomes; in a society spread across interstellar space what, if any, professions and/or situations, apart from crewing an interstellar vessel or colonising a new world, would absolutely require individuals to travel between worlds?
Good answers will include, and justify, only professions which can't possibly be practiced in a single solar system and situations that can't be resolved without leaving them lightyears behind.
Context notes, the setting has:
- completely safe, but quirky, non-instantaneous FTL Travel (average speed is 4 times the speed of light).
- no independent FTL Communication, the fastest way to get a message anywhere is usually by jumpship. Mailman is a secondary role of all legitimate ships' communication officers.
- travel for individuals is not free but it is, safe, cheap, and almost unrestricted (getting on or off a planet/habitat/station that has warrants out for your arrest is tricky but otherwise travel is normally easy, interstellar warrants are exceedingly rare; they're too awkward to enforce).
- humans are spread across hundreds of lightyears but have only densely colonised the star systems with 15-20 lightyears of Sol.
- large scale conflict is almost unheard of.
- individual star systems tend toward self-sufficiency but there is an overarching military-industrial command economy that ties all the heavily populated worlds together.
- trade in raw materials and fully integrated technological artifacts (like spaceships and orbital habitats and factories made to standard patterns) is reasonably common; this is the main reason that travel for individuals is so cheap and available, moving people is easy when you usually ship things the size of O'Neil cylinders.
- there is still material scarcity, some chemical elements are just too rare to create over supply in the current political-economic climate.
- while leisure time is generally more available most people still work for a living most places, just not as constantly or intensively as in the modern western world in most cases.
society faster-than-light interstellar-travel
asked 7 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
what I wrote is not an answer. It is a rebuttal of the question, since it lists reasons why required interstellar travel (excluding colonization) will never be a thing. If I'd put it in as an answer, I'd be chastised for not answering the question. So it seemed to fit better here, in the comments.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
@HenryTaylor It was and is a perfectly good answer to the question, one that says "there aren't any" which may not look helpful but actually tells me that I have to deal with the very real possibility that a lot less people travel than I had previously considered might be the case.
– Ash
7 hours ago
Okay, I will rewrite it as an answer.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
A while ago this question on medieval travel was asked. I looked at it again today and it got me thinking about situations that would mandate travel in other settings, in particular what would force individuals to travel across interstellar distances. Obviously the people furnishing the option to travel those distances must themselves be involved so ships' crews are on the list of those who must travel. Also if there is interstellar colonisation then obviously colonists have to travel between the stars to get new worlds.
So the question becomes; in a society spread across interstellar space what, if any, professions and/or situations, apart from crewing an interstellar vessel or colonising a new world, would absolutely require individuals to travel between worlds?
Good answers will include, and justify, only professions which can't possibly be practiced in a single solar system and situations that can't be resolved without leaving them lightyears behind.
Context notes, the setting has:
- completely safe, but quirky, non-instantaneous FTL Travel (average speed is 4 times the speed of light).
- no independent FTL Communication, the fastest way to get a message anywhere is usually by jumpship. Mailman is a secondary role of all legitimate ships' communication officers.
- travel for individuals is not free but it is, safe, cheap, and almost unrestricted (getting on or off a planet/habitat/station that has warrants out for your arrest is tricky but otherwise travel is normally easy, interstellar warrants are exceedingly rare; they're too awkward to enforce).
- humans are spread across hundreds of lightyears but have only densely colonised the star systems with 15-20 lightyears of Sol.
- large scale conflict is almost unheard of.
- individual star systems tend toward self-sufficiency but there is an overarching military-industrial command economy that ties all the heavily populated worlds together.
- trade in raw materials and fully integrated technological artifacts (like spaceships and orbital habitats and factories made to standard patterns) is reasonably common; this is the main reason that travel for individuals is so cheap and available, moving people is easy when you usually ship things the size of O'Neil cylinders.
- there is still material scarcity, some chemical elements are just too rare to create over supply in the current political-economic climate.
- while leisure time is generally more available most people still work for a living most places, just not as constantly or intensively as in the modern western world in most cases.
society faster-than-light interstellar-travel
asked 7 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
A while ago this question on medieval travel was asked. I looked at it again today and it got me thinking about situations that would mandate travel in other settings, in particular what would force individuals to travel across interstellar distances. Obviously the people furnishing the option to travel those distances must themselves be involved so ships' crews are on the list of those who must travel. Also if there is interstellar colonisation then obviously colonists have to travel between the stars to get new worlds.
So the question becomes; in a society spread across interstellar space what, if any, professions and/or situations, apart from crewing an interstellar vessel or colonising a new world, would absolutely require individuals to travel between worlds?
Good answers will include, and justify, only professions which can't possibly be practiced in a single solar system and situations that can't be resolved without leaving them lightyears behind.
Context notes, the setting has:
- completely safe, but quirky, non-instantaneous FTL Travel (average speed is 4 times the speed of light).
- no independent FTL Communication, the fastest way to get a message anywhere is usually by jumpship. Mailman is a secondary role of all legitimate ships' communication officers.
- travel for individuals is not free but it is, safe, cheap, and almost unrestricted (getting on or off a planet/habitat/station that has warrants out for your arrest is tricky but otherwise travel is normally easy, interstellar warrants are exceedingly rare; they're too awkward to enforce).
- humans are spread across hundreds of lightyears but have only densely colonised the star systems with 15-20 lightyears of Sol.
- large scale conflict is almost unheard of.
- individual star systems tend toward self-sufficiency but there is an overarching military-industrial command economy that ties all the heavily populated worlds together.
- trade in raw materials and fully integrated technological artifacts (like spaceships and orbital habitats and factories made to standard patterns) is reasonably common; this is the main reason that travel for individuals is so cheap and available, moving people is easy when you usually ship things the size of O'Neil cylinders.
- there is still material scarcity, some chemical elements are just too rare to create over supply in the current political-economic climate.
- while leisure time is generally more available most people still work for a living most places, just not as constantly or intensively as in the modern western world in most cases.
society faster-than-light interstellar-travel
society faster-than-light interstellar-travel
asked 7 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
asked 7 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
asked 7 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
asked 7 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
asked 7 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
22.2k459131
what I wrote is not an answer. It is a rebuttal of the question, since it lists reasons why required interstellar travel (excluding colonization) will never be a thing. If I'd put it in as an answer, I'd be chastised for not answering the question. So it seemed to fit better here, in the comments.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
@HenryTaylor It was and is a perfectly good answer to the question, one that says "there aren't any" which may not look helpful but actually tells me that I have to deal with the very real possibility that a lot less people travel than I had previously considered might be the case.
– Ash
7 hours ago
Okay, I will rewrite it as an answer.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
add a comment |Â
what I wrote is not an answer. It is a rebuttal of the question, since it lists reasons why required interstellar travel (excluding colonization) will never be a thing. If I'd put it in as an answer, I'd be chastised for not answering the question. So it seemed to fit better here, in the comments.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
@HenryTaylor It was and is a perfectly good answer to the question, one that says "there aren't any" which may not look helpful but actually tells me that I have to deal with the very real possibility that a lot less people travel than I had previously considered might be the case.
– Ash
7 hours ago
Okay, I will rewrite it as an answer.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
what I wrote is not an answer. It is a rebuttal of the question, since it lists reasons why required interstellar travel (excluding colonization) will never be a thing. If I'd put it in as an answer, I'd be chastised for not answering the question. So it seemed to fit better here, in the comments.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
what I wrote is not an answer. It is a rebuttal of the question, since it lists reasons why required interstellar travel (excluding colonization) will never be a thing. If I'd put it in as an answer, I'd be chastised for not answering the question. So it seemed to fit better here, in the comments.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
@HenryTaylor It was and is a perfectly good answer to the question, one that says "there aren't any" which may not look helpful but actually tells me that I have to deal with the very real possibility that a lot less people travel than I had previously considered might be the case.
– Ash
7 hours ago
@HenryTaylor It was and is a perfectly good answer to the question, one that says "there aren't any" which may not look helpful but actually tells me that I have to deal with the very real possibility that a lot less people travel than I had previously considered might be the case.
– Ash
7 hours ago
Okay, I will rewrite it as an answer.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
Okay, I will rewrite it as an answer.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
add a comment |Â
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
Trade: as much as can automate trivial tasks, if you want to be sure that your goods are delivered and paid in proper order and for the right price, it is better if you, merchant, travel with the goods. Along the trip you can also catch information which can help your business or that can be sold for a good price later on.
Diplomacy: Waiting years just for having an answer to an "Hello Dimitri" is not the most effective way to settle a quarrel which can escalate, better spend few years once and talk face to face. Also, this would prevent hackers to spoil the communication.
Exploration/tourism: The UV shining beaches on Sgombugulus IV are the non plus ultra for rich wannabes who want to boost their social media accounts at the cost of few thousand credits. And don't forget the Methane falls on Niagara VI!
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.1k20155304
@RonJohn if you don't like this answer, feel free to downvote it. We do expect answers to be more than one-liners.
– Monica Cellio♦
58 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
If there are any interstellar governments they are likely to have space navies and also armies and marines.
Naturally an interstellar government would require that that anyone who is drafted into or voluntarily joins the military and naval forces be shipped to another system to garrison that system. Nobody would be permitted to be part of the garrison of their own system. Thus if their own system starts to revolt they won't be tempted to join the rebellion or be forced to crush the rebellion.
answered 6 hours ago
M. A. Golding
6,645422
You are assuming a rather totalitarian approach to interstellar governance. Also force projection times for external fleet elements are going to be years to decades, a navy doesn't make that much sense at these travel speeds.
– Ash
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
It Won't
I believe that Post-Colonial Interstellar Travel will be relatively uncommon event for a number of reasons...
A great advantage of colonizing worlds is that it finally defeats one of our species' oldest threats, the pandemic-capable fatal infection. Finally, the human race is not facing extinction at the hands of a single organism. Unless that organism joins us on our journey to the stars. If interstellar travel is uncommon, then every colonized planet becomes a quarantined safe zone from the biological treats of the rest of the universe.
Secondly, it is possible that the time-dilation issues which complicate fractional light speed travel will continue (or even intensify) in FTL. Anyone choosing to travel between stars, will loose their home world to the past. The people and culture which they leave behind will be history should they ever return. All interstellar journey's are likely to remain one-way tickets.
Additionally, time dilation makes travel between stars dangerous on a political level. At the time of your departure, you may have reasonable proof that the government of your target planet will be amenable to your arrival, but a lot can change during a journey, which from the point of view of your destination, may take hundreds of years. To put this in perspective, if an FTL ship arrived today with a subjective time dilation of only 300 years, the world they would be expecting to find would be preindustrial. If their travel visa's had gotten lost during the last 30 decades, they might find themselves welcomed by the business end of our Star Wars defense satellite lasers.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, post-colonial interstellar travel is unnecessary. Throughout our history, we have repeatedly built thriving societies which met all of our species needs, using only the resources of a single planet. In the near future, we will start mining our solar system for its riches and there we will likely find that everything our species will ever NEED, is already here in orbit of our single star.
Every profession which has ever existed is the product of a single
planetary society. Every great artwork, great writing or great
invention is the product of human minds which never left our planet's
orbit. Whatever happiness and fulfillment which humanity has found has all
been found right here. And the same will be true of all the other planets
we will someday own.
Humans are home(world) bodies. They tend to stay where you plant them.
answered 5 hours ago
Henry Taylor
42.5k765153
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Getting Rid of People You Don't Like
Lets say you run a planet whose main industry specializes in ultra-high end technological goods. Fully immersive VR sets, star-ship nav-computers, automated toaster dog walker combos etc etc. Business is good, trade is strong, and your people are happy. Well... most of them. A Luddite cult of anti-tech extremists keep insisting that you revert the planet back to it's natural state and rebuild a new naturalistic society based on smoking space weed and writing stream of consciousness novels. Now, these people haven't started anything violent or anything overtly disruptive yet but you can see it from here. Stock prices are already dropping a few points in anticipation of the violent riots and images on the news of your police force hosing down hippies with space pepper-spray. So, why not find them a new planet, we'll name it neo-nirvana, and we'll even bankroll a ship and colonization effort to get them off our planet and out of our hair. (Or maybe just have the secret police round them up and send them against their will if you wanna go the dystopian route.)
This method is how a significant portion of the planet was colonized by the European powers. Criminals along with political, religious, and racial minorities who were causing problems by existing and not agreeing with whatever the leadership wanted were usually quietly shipped off to new continents. Its a highly effective way to colonize new places and get rid of the people you don't like at the same time.
edited 5 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
answered 6 hours ago
TCAT117
17k25280
Yeah I already mentioned interstellar colonists, it doesn't make much difference who pays for them to migrate.
– Ash
5 hours ago
Hosing down space hippies. That alone should be enough to start a novel.....
– Thucydides
4 hours ago
These aren't colonists, they are transportees. Bit different.
– TCAT117
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Migration is permanent movement to a different place. Migration can be described by push and pull factors - things that push you away from one location and things that pull you toward a new location.
Push factors
Threats to life- A planet wide threat, such as an asteroid heading towards your planet, threatens the life of all of the inhabitants. Physical conflict on the planet, such as a looming war, puts you at risk of death. A specific threat, such as an allergy to the local flora, affects you or a small number of people.
Threats to wellness- An economical problem, like losing your job, requires you to leave for a new one. A health problem, such as lack of medicine, threatens your long-term survival.
Pull factors
Better opportunities- Better economic conditions, such as a better job, will improve your living conditions. New technologies, such as better automated transportation, make life easier.
Better safety- Better prevention technology, such as stronger building materials, makes accidents less likely. Better care technology, such as improved hospitals, make life with an existing condition longer and happier.
All of these factors combine to motivate people to change location. Humans are logical beings [citation not possible], most humans will not go out of their way to do something that is not important to them. Without reasons for people to move from place to place, people will not move, especially if the destination is a long distance away and is a foreign place like another planet.
answered 2 hours ago
John Locke
1,178117
add a comment |Â
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
Trade: as much as can automate trivial tasks, if you want to be sure that your goods are delivered and paid in proper order and for the right price, it is better if you, merchant, travel with the goods. Along the trip you can also catch information which can help your business or that can be sold for a good price later on.
Diplomacy: Waiting years just for having an answer to an "Hello Dimitri" is not the most effective way to settle a quarrel which can escalate, better spend few years once and talk face to face. Also, this would prevent hackers to spoil the communication.
Exploration/tourism: The UV shining beaches on Sgombugulus IV are the non plus ultra for rich wannabes who want to boost their social media accounts at the cost of few thousand credits. And don't forget the Methane falls on Niagara VI!
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.1k20155304
@RonJohn if you don't like this answer, feel free to downvote it. We do expect answers to be more than one-liners.
– Monica Cellio♦
58 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
Trade: as much as can automate trivial tasks, if you want to be sure that your goods are delivered and paid in proper order and for the right price, it is better if you, merchant, travel with the goods. Along the trip you can also catch information which can help your business or that can be sold for a good price later on.
Diplomacy: Waiting years just for having an answer to an "Hello Dimitri" is not the most effective way to settle a quarrel which can escalate, better spend few years once and talk face to face. Also, this would prevent hackers to spoil the communication.
Exploration/tourism: The UV shining beaches on Sgombugulus IV are the non plus ultra for rich wannabes who want to boost their social media accounts at the cost of few thousand credits. And don't forget the Methane falls on Niagara VI!
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.1k20155304
@RonJohn if you don't like this answer, feel free to downvote it. We do expect answers to be more than one-liners.
– Monica Cellio♦
58 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
up vote
3
down vote
Trade: as much as can automate trivial tasks, if you want to be sure that your goods are delivered and paid in proper order and for the right price, it is better if you, merchant, travel with the goods. Along the trip you can also catch information which can help your business or that can be sold for a good price later on.
Diplomacy: Waiting years just for having an answer to an "Hello Dimitri" is not the most effective way to settle a quarrel which can escalate, better spend few years once and talk face to face. Also, this would prevent hackers to spoil the communication.
Exploration/tourism: The UV shining beaches on Sgombugulus IV are the non plus ultra for rich wannabes who want to boost their social media accounts at the cost of few thousand credits. And don't forget the Methane falls on Niagara VI!
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.1k20155304
Trade: as much as can automate trivial tasks, if you want to be sure that your goods are delivered and paid in proper order and for the right price, it is better if you, merchant, travel with the goods. Along the trip you can also catch information which can help your business or that can be sold for a good price later on.
Diplomacy: Waiting years just for having an answer to an "Hello Dimitri" is not the most effective way to settle a quarrel which can escalate, better spend few years once and talk face to face. Also, this would prevent hackers to spoil the communication.
Exploration/tourism: The UV shining beaches on Sgombugulus IV are the non plus ultra for rich wannabes who want to boost their social media accounts at the cost of few thousand credits. And don't forget the Methane falls on Niagara VI!
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.1k20155304
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.1k20155304
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.1k20155304
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.1k20155304
65.1k20155304
@RonJohn if you don't like this answer, feel free to downvote it. We do expect answers to be more than one-liners.
– Monica Cellio♦
58 mins ago
add a comment |Â
@RonJohn if you don't like this answer, feel free to downvote it. We do expect answers to be more than one-liners.
– Monica Cellio♦
58 mins ago
@RonJohn if you don't like this answer, feel free to downvote it. We do expect answers to be more than one-liners.
– Monica Cellio♦
58 mins ago
@RonJohn if you don't like this answer, feel free to downvote it. We do expect answers to be more than one-liners.
– Monica Cellio♦
58 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
If there are any interstellar governments they are likely to have space navies and also armies and marines.
Naturally an interstellar government would require that that anyone who is drafted into or voluntarily joins the military and naval forces be shipped to another system to garrison that system. Nobody would be permitted to be part of the garrison of their own system. Thus if their own system starts to revolt they won't be tempted to join the rebellion or be forced to crush the rebellion.
answered 6 hours ago
M. A. Golding
6,645422
You are assuming a rather totalitarian approach to interstellar governance. Also force projection times for external fleet elements are going to be years to decades, a navy doesn't make that much sense at these travel speeds.
– Ash
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
If there are any interstellar governments they are likely to have space navies and also armies and marines.
Naturally an interstellar government would require that that anyone who is drafted into or voluntarily joins the military and naval forces be shipped to another system to garrison that system. Nobody would be permitted to be part of the garrison of their own system. Thus if their own system starts to revolt they won't be tempted to join the rebellion or be forced to crush the rebellion.
answered 6 hours ago
M. A. Golding
6,645422
You are assuming a rather totalitarian approach to interstellar governance. Also force projection times for external fleet elements are going to be years to decades, a navy doesn't make that much sense at these travel speeds.
– Ash
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
If there are any interstellar governments they are likely to have space navies and also armies and marines.
Naturally an interstellar government would require that that anyone who is drafted into or voluntarily joins the military and naval forces be shipped to another system to garrison that system. Nobody would be permitted to be part of the garrison of their own system. Thus if their own system starts to revolt they won't be tempted to join the rebellion or be forced to crush the rebellion.
answered 6 hours ago
M. A. Golding
6,645422
If there are any interstellar governments they are likely to have space navies and also armies and marines.
Naturally an interstellar government would require that that anyone who is drafted into or voluntarily joins the military and naval forces be shipped to another system to garrison that system. Nobody would be permitted to be part of the garrison of their own system. Thus if their own system starts to revolt they won't be tempted to join the rebellion or be forced to crush the rebellion.
answered 6 hours ago
M. A. Golding
6,645422
answered 6 hours ago
M. A. Golding
6,645422
answered 6 hours ago
M. A. Golding
6,645422
answered 6 hours ago
M. A. Golding
6,645422
6,645422
You are assuming a rather totalitarian approach to interstellar governance. Also force projection times for external fleet elements are going to be years to decades, a navy doesn't make that much sense at these travel speeds.
– Ash
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
You are assuming a rather totalitarian approach to interstellar governance. Also force projection times for external fleet elements are going to be years to decades, a navy doesn't make that much sense at these travel speeds.
– Ash
5 hours ago
You are assuming a rather totalitarian approach to interstellar governance. Also force projection times for external fleet elements are going to be years to decades, a navy doesn't make that much sense at these travel speeds.
– Ash
5 hours ago
You are assuming a rather totalitarian approach to interstellar governance. Also force projection times for external fleet elements are going to be years to decades, a navy doesn't make that much sense at these travel speeds.
– Ash
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
It Won't
I believe that Post-Colonial Interstellar Travel will be relatively uncommon event for a number of reasons...
A great advantage of colonizing worlds is that it finally defeats one of our species' oldest threats, the pandemic-capable fatal infection. Finally, the human race is not facing extinction at the hands of a single organism. Unless that organism joins us on our journey to the stars. If interstellar travel is uncommon, then every colonized planet becomes a quarantined safe zone from the biological treats of the rest of the universe.
Secondly, it is possible that the time-dilation issues which complicate fractional light speed travel will continue (or even intensify) in FTL. Anyone choosing to travel between stars, will loose their home world to the past. The people and culture which they leave behind will be history should they ever return. All interstellar journey's are likely to remain one-way tickets.
Additionally, time dilation makes travel between stars dangerous on a political level. At the time of your departure, you may have reasonable proof that the government of your target planet will be amenable to your arrival, but a lot can change during a journey, which from the point of view of your destination, may take hundreds of years. To put this in perspective, if an FTL ship arrived today with a subjective time dilation of only 300 years, the world they would be expecting to find would be preindustrial. If their travel visa's had gotten lost during the last 30 decades, they might find themselves welcomed by the business end of our Star Wars defense satellite lasers.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, post-colonial interstellar travel is unnecessary. Throughout our history, we have repeatedly built thriving societies which met all of our species needs, using only the resources of a single planet. In the near future, we will start mining our solar system for its riches and there we will likely find that everything our species will ever NEED, is already here in orbit of our single star.
Every profession which has ever existed is the product of a single
planetary society. Every great artwork, great writing or great
invention is the product of human minds which never left our planet's
orbit. Whatever happiness and fulfillment which humanity has found has all
been found right here. And the same will be true of all the other planets
we will someday own.
Humans are home(world) bodies. They tend to stay where you plant them.
answered 5 hours ago
Henry Taylor
42.5k765153
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
It Won't
I believe that Post-Colonial Interstellar Travel will be relatively uncommon event for a number of reasons...
A great advantage of colonizing worlds is that it finally defeats one of our species' oldest threats, the pandemic-capable fatal infection. Finally, the human race is not facing extinction at the hands of a single organism. Unless that organism joins us on our journey to the stars. If interstellar travel is uncommon, then every colonized planet becomes a quarantined safe zone from the biological treats of the rest of the universe.
Secondly, it is possible that the time-dilation issues which complicate fractional light speed travel will continue (or even intensify) in FTL. Anyone choosing to travel between stars, will loose their home world to the past. The people and culture which they leave behind will be history should they ever return. All interstellar journey's are likely to remain one-way tickets.
Additionally, time dilation makes travel between stars dangerous on a political level. At the time of your departure, you may have reasonable proof that the government of your target planet will be amenable to your arrival, but a lot can change during a journey, which from the point of view of your destination, may take hundreds of years. To put this in perspective, if an FTL ship arrived today with a subjective time dilation of only 300 years, the world they would be expecting to find would be preindustrial. If their travel visa's had gotten lost during the last 30 decades, they might find themselves welcomed by the business end of our Star Wars defense satellite lasers.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, post-colonial interstellar travel is unnecessary. Throughout our history, we have repeatedly built thriving societies which met all of our species needs, using only the resources of a single planet. In the near future, we will start mining our solar system for its riches and there we will likely find that everything our species will ever NEED, is already here in orbit of our single star.
Every profession which has ever existed is the product of a single
planetary society. Every great artwork, great writing or great
invention is the product of human minds which never left our planet's
orbit. Whatever happiness and fulfillment which humanity has found has all
been found right here. And the same will be true of all the other planets
we will someday own.
Humans are home(world) bodies. They tend to stay where you plant them.
answered 5 hours ago
Henry Taylor
42.5k765153
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1
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It Won't
I believe that Post-Colonial Interstellar Travel will be relatively uncommon event for a number of reasons...
A great advantage of colonizing worlds is that it finally defeats one of our species' oldest threats, the pandemic-capable fatal infection. Finally, the human race is not facing extinction at the hands of a single organism. Unless that organism joins us on our journey to the stars. If interstellar travel is uncommon, then every colonized planet becomes a quarantined safe zone from the biological treats of the rest of the universe.
Secondly, it is possible that the time-dilation issues which complicate fractional light speed travel will continue (or even intensify) in FTL. Anyone choosing to travel between stars, will loose their home world to the past. The people and culture which they leave behind will be history should they ever return. All interstellar journey's are likely to remain one-way tickets.
Additionally, time dilation makes travel between stars dangerous on a political level. At the time of your departure, you may have reasonable proof that the government of your target planet will be amenable to your arrival, but a lot can change during a journey, which from the point of view of your destination, may take hundreds of years. To put this in perspective, if an FTL ship arrived today with a subjective time dilation of only 300 years, the world they would be expecting to find would be preindustrial. If their travel visa's had gotten lost during the last 30 decades, they might find themselves welcomed by the business end of our Star Wars defense satellite lasers.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, post-colonial interstellar travel is unnecessary. Throughout our history, we have repeatedly built thriving societies which met all of our species needs, using only the resources of a single planet. In the near future, we will start mining our solar system for its riches and there we will likely find that everything our species will ever NEED, is already here in orbit of our single star.
Every profession which has ever existed is the product of a single
planetary society. Every great artwork, great writing or great
invention is the product of human minds which never left our planet's
orbit. Whatever happiness and fulfillment which humanity has found has all
been found right here. And the same will be true of all the other planets
we will someday own.
Humans are home(world) bodies. They tend to stay where you plant them.
answered 5 hours ago
Henry Taylor
42.5k765153
It Won't
I believe that Post-Colonial Interstellar Travel will be relatively uncommon event for a number of reasons...
A great advantage of colonizing worlds is that it finally defeats one of our species' oldest threats, the pandemic-capable fatal infection. Finally, the human race is not facing extinction at the hands of a single organism. Unless that organism joins us on our journey to the stars. If interstellar travel is uncommon, then every colonized planet becomes a quarantined safe zone from the biological treats of the rest of the universe.
Secondly, it is possible that the time-dilation issues which complicate fractional light speed travel will continue (or even intensify) in FTL. Anyone choosing to travel between stars, will loose their home world to the past. The people and culture which they leave behind will be history should they ever return. All interstellar journey's are likely to remain one-way tickets.
Additionally, time dilation makes travel between stars dangerous on a political level. At the time of your departure, you may have reasonable proof that the government of your target planet will be amenable to your arrival, but a lot can change during a journey, which from the point of view of your destination, may take hundreds of years. To put this in perspective, if an FTL ship arrived today with a subjective time dilation of only 300 years, the world they would be expecting to find would be preindustrial. If their travel visa's had gotten lost during the last 30 decades, they might find themselves welcomed by the business end of our Star Wars defense satellite lasers.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, post-colonial interstellar travel is unnecessary. Throughout our history, we have repeatedly built thriving societies which met all of our species needs, using only the resources of a single planet. In the near future, we will start mining our solar system for its riches and there we will likely find that everything our species will ever NEED, is already here in orbit of our single star.
Every profession which has ever existed is the product of a single
planetary society. Every great artwork, great writing or great
invention is the product of human minds which never left our planet's
orbit. Whatever happiness and fulfillment which humanity has found has all
been found right here. And the same will be true of all the other planets
we will someday own.
Humans are home(world) bodies. They tend to stay where you plant them.
answered 5 hours ago
Henry Taylor
42.5k765153
edited 4 hours ago
answered 5 hours ago
Henry Taylor
42.5k765153
answered 5 hours ago
Henry Taylor
42.5k765153
answered 5 hours ago
Henry Taylor
42.5k765153
42.5k765153
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Getting Rid of People You Don't Like
Lets say you run a planet whose main industry specializes in ultra-high end technological goods. Fully immersive VR sets, star-ship nav-computers, automated toaster dog walker combos etc etc. Business is good, trade is strong, and your people are happy. Well... most of them. A Luddite cult of anti-tech extremists keep insisting that you revert the planet back to it's natural state and rebuild a new naturalistic society based on smoking space weed and writing stream of consciousness novels. Now, these people haven't started anything violent or anything overtly disruptive yet but you can see it from here. Stock prices are already dropping a few points in anticipation of the violent riots and images on the news of your police force hosing down hippies with space pepper-spray. So, why not find them a new planet, we'll name it neo-nirvana, and we'll even bankroll a ship and colonization effort to get them off our planet and out of our hair. (Or maybe just have the secret police round them up and send them against their will if you wanna go the dystopian route.)
This method is how a significant portion of the planet was colonized by the European powers. Criminals along with political, religious, and racial minorities who were causing problems by existing and not agreeing with whatever the leadership wanted were usually quietly shipped off to new continents. Its a highly effective way to colonize new places and get rid of the people you don't like at the same time.
edited 5 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
answered 6 hours ago
TCAT117
17k25280
Yeah I already mentioned interstellar colonists, it doesn't make much difference who pays for them to migrate.
– Ash
5 hours ago
Hosing down space hippies. That alone should be enough to start a novel.....
– Thucydides
4 hours ago
These aren't colonists, they are transportees. Bit different.
– TCAT117
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Getting Rid of People You Don't Like
Lets say you run a planet whose main industry specializes in ultra-high end technological goods. Fully immersive VR sets, star-ship nav-computers, automated toaster dog walker combos etc etc. Business is good, trade is strong, and your people are happy. Well... most of them. A Luddite cult of anti-tech extremists keep insisting that you revert the planet back to it's natural state and rebuild a new naturalistic society based on smoking space weed and writing stream of consciousness novels. Now, these people haven't started anything violent or anything overtly disruptive yet but you can see it from here. Stock prices are already dropping a few points in anticipation of the violent riots and images on the news of your police force hosing down hippies with space pepper-spray. So, why not find them a new planet, we'll name it neo-nirvana, and we'll even bankroll a ship and colonization effort to get them off our planet and out of our hair. (Or maybe just have the secret police round them up and send them against their will if you wanna go the dystopian route.)
This method is how a significant portion of the planet was colonized by the European powers. Criminals along with political, religious, and racial minorities who were causing problems by existing and not agreeing with whatever the leadership wanted were usually quietly shipped off to new continents. Its a highly effective way to colonize new places and get rid of the people you don't like at the same time.
edited 5 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
answered 6 hours ago
TCAT117
17k25280
Yeah I already mentioned interstellar colonists, it doesn't make much difference who pays for them to migrate.
– Ash
5 hours ago
Hosing down space hippies. That alone should be enough to start a novel.....
– Thucydides
4 hours ago
These aren't colonists, they are transportees. Bit different.
– TCAT117
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
Getting Rid of People You Don't Like
Lets say you run a planet whose main industry specializes in ultra-high end technological goods. Fully immersive VR sets, star-ship nav-computers, automated toaster dog walker combos etc etc. Business is good, trade is strong, and your people are happy. Well... most of them. A Luddite cult of anti-tech extremists keep insisting that you revert the planet back to it's natural state and rebuild a new naturalistic society based on smoking space weed and writing stream of consciousness novels. Now, these people haven't started anything violent or anything overtly disruptive yet but you can see it from here. Stock prices are already dropping a few points in anticipation of the violent riots and images on the news of your police force hosing down hippies with space pepper-spray. So, why not find them a new planet, we'll name it neo-nirvana, and we'll even bankroll a ship and colonization effort to get them off our planet and out of our hair. (Or maybe just have the secret police round them up and send them against their will if you wanna go the dystopian route.)
This method is how a significant portion of the planet was colonized by the European powers. Criminals along with political, religious, and racial minorities who were causing problems by existing and not agreeing with whatever the leadership wanted were usually quietly shipped off to new continents. Its a highly effective way to colonize new places and get rid of the people you don't like at the same time.
edited 5 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
answered 6 hours ago
TCAT117
17k25280
Getting Rid of People You Don't Like
Lets say you run a planet whose main industry specializes in ultra-high end technological goods. Fully immersive VR sets, star-ship nav-computers, automated toaster dog walker combos etc etc. Business is good, trade is strong, and your people are happy. Well... most of them. A Luddite cult of anti-tech extremists keep insisting that you revert the planet back to it's natural state and rebuild a new naturalistic society based on smoking space weed and writing stream of consciousness novels. Now, these people haven't started anything violent or anything overtly disruptive yet but you can see it from here. Stock prices are already dropping a few points in anticipation of the violent riots and images on the news of your police force hosing down hippies with space pepper-spray. So, why not find them a new planet, we'll name it neo-nirvana, and we'll even bankroll a ship and colonization effort to get them off our planet and out of our hair. (Or maybe just have the secret police round them up and send them against their will if you wanna go the dystopian route.)
This method is how a significant portion of the planet was colonized by the European powers. Criminals along with political, religious, and racial minorities who were causing problems by existing and not agreeing with whatever the leadership wanted were usually quietly shipped off to new continents. Its a highly effective way to colonize new places and get rid of the people you don't like at the same time.
edited 5 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
answered 6 hours ago
TCAT117
17k25280
edited 5 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
edited 5 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
edited 5 hours ago
Ash
22.2k459131
22.2k459131
answered 6 hours ago
TCAT117
17k25280
answered 6 hours ago
TCAT117
17k25280
answered 6 hours ago
TCAT117
17k25280
17k25280
Yeah I already mentioned interstellar colonists, it doesn't make much difference who pays for them to migrate.
– Ash
5 hours ago
Hosing down space hippies. That alone should be enough to start a novel.....
– Thucydides
4 hours ago
These aren't colonists, they are transportees. Bit different.
– TCAT117
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
Yeah I already mentioned interstellar colonists, it doesn't make much difference who pays for them to migrate.
– Ash
5 hours ago
Hosing down space hippies. That alone should be enough to start a novel.....
– Thucydides
4 hours ago
These aren't colonists, they are transportees. Bit different.
– TCAT117
4 hours ago
Yeah I already mentioned interstellar colonists, it doesn't make much difference who pays for them to migrate.
– Ash
5 hours ago
Yeah I already mentioned interstellar colonists, it doesn't make much difference who pays for them to migrate.
– Ash
5 hours ago
Hosing down space hippies. That alone should be enough to start a novel.....
– Thucydides
4 hours ago
Hosing down space hippies. That alone should be enough to start a novel.....
– Thucydides
4 hours ago
These aren't colonists, they are transportees. Bit different.
– TCAT117
4 hours ago
These aren't colonists, they are transportees. Bit different.
– TCAT117
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Migration is permanent movement to a different place. Migration can be described by push and pull factors - things that push you away from one location and things that pull you toward a new location.
Push factors
Threats to life- A planet wide threat, such as an asteroid heading towards your planet, threatens the life of all of the inhabitants. Physical conflict on the planet, such as a looming war, puts you at risk of death. A specific threat, such as an allergy to the local flora, affects you or a small number of people.
Threats to wellness- An economical problem, like losing your job, requires you to leave for a new one. A health problem, such as lack of medicine, threatens your long-term survival.
Pull factors
Better opportunities- Better economic conditions, such as a better job, will improve your living conditions. New technologies, such as better automated transportation, make life easier.
Better safety- Better prevention technology, such as stronger building materials, makes accidents less likely. Better care technology, such as improved hospitals, make life with an existing condition longer and happier.
All of these factors combine to motivate people to change location. Humans are logical beings [citation not possible], most humans will not go out of their way to do something that is not important to them. Without reasons for people to move from place to place, people will not move, especially if the destination is a long distance away and is a foreign place like another planet.
answered 2 hours ago
John Locke
1,178117
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Migration is permanent movement to a different place. Migration can be described by push and pull factors - things that push you away from one location and things that pull you toward a new location.
Push factors
Threats to life- A planet wide threat, such as an asteroid heading towards your planet, threatens the life of all of the inhabitants. Physical conflict on the planet, such as a looming war, puts you at risk of death. A specific threat, such as an allergy to the local flora, affects you or a small number of people.
Threats to wellness- An economical problem, like losing your job, requires you to leave for a new one. A health problem, such as lack of medicine, threatens your long-term survival.
Pull factors
Better opportunities- Better economic conditions, such as a better job, will improve your living conditions. New technologies, such as better automated transportation, make life easier.
Better safety- Better prevention technology, such as stronger building materials, makes accidents less likely. Better care technology, such as improved hospitals, make life with an existing condition longer and happier.
All of these factors combine to motivate people to change location. Humans are logical beings [citation not possible], most humans will not go out of their way to do something that is not important to them. Without reasons for people to move from place to place, people will not move, especially if the destination is a long distance away and is a foreign place like another planet.
answered 2 hours ago
John Locke
1,178117
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
Migration is permanent movement to a different place. Migration can be described by push and pull factors - things that push you away from one location and things that pull you toward a new location.
Push factors
Threats to life- A planet wide threat, such as an asteroid heading towards your planet, threatens the life of all of the inhabitants. Physical conflict on the planet, such as a looming war, puts you at risk of death. A specific threat, such as an allergy to the local flora, affects you or a small number of people.
Threats to wellness- An economical problem, like losing your job, requires you to leave for a new one. A health problem, such as lack of medicine, threatens your long-term survival.
Pull factors
Better opportunities- Better economic conditions, such as a better job, will improve your living conditions. New technologies, such as better automated transportation, make life easier.
Better safety- Better prevention technology, such as stronger building materials, makes accidents less likely. Better care technology, such as improved hospitals, make life with an existing condition longer and happier.
All of these factors combine to motivate people to change location. Humans are logical beings [citation not possible], most humans will not go out of their way to do something that is not important to them. Without reasons for people to move from place to place, people will not move, especially if the destination is a long distance away and is a foreign place like another planet.
answered 2 hours ago
John Locke
1,178117
Migration is permanent movement to a different place. Migration can be described by push and pull factors - things that push you away from one location and things that pull you toward a new location.
Push factors
Threats to life- A planet wide threat, such as an asteroid heading towards your planet, threatens the life of all of the inhabitants. Physical conflict on the planet, such as a looming war, puts you at risk of death. A specific threat, such as an allergy to the local flora, affects you or a small number of people.
Threats to wellness- An economical problem, like losing your job, requires you to leave for a new one. A health problem, such as lack of medicine, threatens your long-term survival.
Pull factors
Better opportunities- Better economic conditions, such as a better job, will improve your living conditions. New technologies, such as better automated transportation, make life easier.
Better safety- Better prevention technology, such as stronger building materials, makes accidents less likely. Better care technology, such as improved hospitals, make life with an existing condition longer and happier.
All of these factors combine to motivate people to change location. Humans are logical beings [citation not possible], most humans will not go out of their way to do something that is not important to them. Without reasons for people to move from place to place, people will not move, especially if the destination is a long distance away and is a foreign place like another planet.
answered 2 hours ago
John Locke
1,178117
answered 2 hours ago
John Locke
1,178117
answered 2 hours ago
John Locke
1,178117
answered 2 hours ago
John Locke
1,178117
1,178117
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
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what I wrote is not an answer. It is a rebuttal of the question, since it lists reasons why required interstellar travel (excluding colonization) will never be a thing. If I'd put it in as an answer, I'd be chastised for not answering the question. So it seemed to fit better here, in the comments.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago
@HenryTaylor It was and is a perfectly good answer to the question, one that says "there aren't any" which may not look helpful but actually tells me that I have to deal with the very real possibility that a lot less people travel than I had previously considered might be the case.
– Ash
7 hours ago
Okay, I will rewrite it as an answer.
– Henry Taylor
7 hours ago