Do you think humans will ever actually travel to another star or star system?

Question

Even if we were able to travel the speed of light it would still take a long time to get anywhere.

There are theories of wormholes and such but if that ever actually happens it's going to be a long time into the future.

I wouldn't want any scientist trying to create wormholes or black holes here on earth anyway, if they succeeded it would probably be a bad day for all of us.

Answer 1

I wouldn't bet against it.

Until a few thousand years ago humans were limited to foot travel. The the technology of horses entered the equation. We went from territories we could walk across in a year to spanning continents. Then boats had us crossing oceans. Since then travel has progressed enough to cross the world in hours by plane.

The only stumbling block to scaling star distances is time. Assuming that Einstein is right then Light is the upper limit. But even so if you could live long enough or "hibernate" in some fashion then that sort of travel will be like boarding the train and using a sleeping car. Wake me up when we get there. The down side is that it's a one way trip. History is full of people who have been more than willing to make that jump.

Answer 2

I read somewhere that in 50 years the entire surface of this planet will be covered with humans, so it looks like we do not have any other options, except for to disappear or to spread in the universe.
I think you never know when we gonna find a suitable technology. In fact you never know whats gonna happen in the next 10 years. How about that: genetics will give us adaptation to hostile environments, while AI, robotics and nanotech will provide us with proper tools and materials and here we go - the Solar system is ours. This is what we can predict right now.
If relativity and quantum theories gave us nuclear technology, then who knows, maybe future breakthrough in physics will explain how to build a starship.
PS I read in some science fiction novel, that an attempt to create a blackhole has FORCED humans to reach the stars, because the experiment went wrong and, you know, earth was becoming an odd place to live on...

Answer 3

um, easy for humans to do once we create propulsion systems that approach the speed of light. Yes they're still several lightyears away, and yes there'll be spaceman spiff with huge crews sent to create starship civilizations.

However once you approach the speed of light, time for you the traveler changes so that the lightyears aren't so long; your clock measures less time. Of course, back on earth people will observe the same time frame according to their clocks that they've always measured. So you can't call mom when you get there,but maybe you can leave a message with your descendants if anyone's there to recieve it.

Say you're covering 500ly at .99c. That's 500 light years at 99% the speed of light. Pretty much impossible now, but hey, it will become feasible. At that speed you have a lorentz factor of approximately 7.1, so it'll take spaceman spiff 70-ish years. or 500-ish years. he feels like an old man, we've all died along with our children and their's and their bad pop music. So traveling to another star system is more for the people who go than the people who stay. Public funding will clearly be difficult.

As far as the physics goes, please, tell me if I'm wrong. I've only had a brief foray into SR so maybe there's a funny common misconception rolled in here.

Answer 4

Yes,

Even if we CAN'T travel faster than light the urge for man to explore is just too strong to keep up inside our solar system forever.

We will try to find an Earth type world, which we are on the verge of being able to do. Then we will send sub-light automatic probes. They will search the target solar system and study the planet. If they find a livable planet, intelligence, or any source of life then the attraction to visit that planet in person will be huge.

Of course I don't expect anything like this for a few hundred years (on the order of 500 years), unless we find a way to cheat Einstein and get around the speed of light barrier.

Wormhole experiments can be very dangerous, playing with black holes is not for the careless. Such research will probably be conducted in space on the moon or an asteroid just because of that reason.

Answer 5

Space and time are more fluid than most humans can fathom. Time itself is almost an illusion.

Do I think the feral hybrid nephilim who now call themselves the human race will openly travel even to Mars to the knowledge of the public? Not in the next decade but probably before this 30 something dies. Do we need to? Maybe, maybe not. But the universe tends to unfold as it should.

Answer 6

Knowlage will allways expand and it will to a certan point where it may become possible. As for travling into a worm hole i dont think that will be possible because what a wormhole does is strech things into electrons X-rays to be exact and i dont think that physics allow the transformation back to matter. Light speed travel is in my opion a more feesible way of travling.

Answer 7

Huge multi-generational crew space ships will span the cosmos in the distant future. It is man's destiny to go into space. It may be 500 years from now, but we will do it.
Imagine, a thousand people on one ship, and 20 generations passing before reaching their destination. Each child raised on the star ship and educated to join the crew and continue the mission. It will happen.

Answer 8

My thinking is that like an extended family the outrageously ill equipped homo sapien vulgaris will spread itself throughout the solar system first. Then after infecting everything it can it will attempt the milky way galaxy and eventually the entire universe. If he is successful everything in the universe will slowly die and as the lights go out one by one it will collapse into the largest black hole known to man. From there will come a huge B-A-N-G and I have no idea what happens next.

Answer 9

Unlikely. If superior extraterretstians do exists and are not too afraid of our aggression, and vica versa, then we might get a chance. But I much rather believe that we kill ourselves long before our science ever discovers a feasible way.

Answer 10

Go to the bottom of the ocean and you will see no sunlight. Yet there is life in certain parts of the deep ocean floor near geothermal vents. Their source of energy is the heat from the Earth's interior. Perhaps there is a god in the center of every planet too, if we use your logic.