--- OrionWorks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Those who see little point in exploring outer space
> for its own sake
> will most likely stay close to mother Earth and tend
> their gardens.
Or explore space by sending robots. With advances in
robot technology, the solar system could one day be
thoroughly explored.
Even considering a spot near to home, I understand
that observatories, radio and optical, on the far side
of the moon can be more useful than anything we can
build on earth or orbit around it.
And Maybe listening posts at the fringes of the solar
system would provide information about what's out
there that can't be gotten this far in.
>
> That may
> eventually include very
> large interstellar city-ships capable of
> transporting hundreds and
> thousands of people anywhere. People will be born,
> work, study, play,
> garden, and die on them.
It might be tolerable to live one's life out on such a
ship if it were large enough, but it would be a sad
comedown from living it out on Earth.
Unless Earth has become so crowded that the Soylent
Green world is reality.
Such a life could be avoided if we knew, maybe via
those robotic listening posts, that an earth-like
planet existed around another star and that it wasn't
already 'taken' by an intelligent species.
In that case a nice long sleep and a wakeup at the new
home might be attractive to the young and restless.
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