We've Gone a Long Way, or Have We?

[MineralMan]

We're still talking about the possibilities of traveling in space, looking for a replacement for our tired old Earth. Some of us are, anyhow. People like Elon Musk, for example. But is any of that talk realistic?
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I was thinking this morning about traveling. I know that our solar system is moving through the Milky Way galaxy pretty damned quickly, so I googled how far it had traveled during my 80 years of life.

I was somewhat surprised to find out that it had moved about 3.7 trillion miles from where it was when I was born. That's a long, long way, isn't it? I'm quite a distance from where I was on my date of birth, 80 years ago.

In one year, though, light travels 5.88 trillion miles. So, in 80 years, I and the solar system have traveled only 63% of the distance light travels in just one year! Not even one light year. Not so impressive-sounding now, is it? It's all relative.

And that is why humans aren't going to do any interstellar traveling, folks.

All my life, I've been fascinated by very large numbers. This little story reminds me why that is.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

1. True.

The only chance for interstellar travel would be wormholes, and I believe those are only hypothetical.

[MineralMan]

3. Yeah, and I wonder how far away the nearest possible wormhole is.

We don't know, because we've never seen one. We don't even know if they exist as real things. Theoretical, but maybe not physically real.

[Attilatheblond]

2. Meanwhile, in Europe, incredible innovations being made to use resources better, recycle, and do less planetary damage

Sadly, ruling class here just want to 'use it all up now' for immediate profit.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. When they're way out there

they will be dependent on the supply chain for food, water, and oxygen.

Loonies!

[MineralMan]

8. Warp drives and teleportation?

We'll have to rely on fictional things, see...

[leftstreet]

5. Happy 3.7 trillion miles!

That's quite a distance

But, of course there will be space travel in the future! We just look at through the lens of our known technology and understanding.

There was a time someone said "Can you imagine people thinking they could talk on their phone at the grocery store? Pfft, no way the cord would reach that far!"

[walkingman]

6. I don't want to beat a dead horse but....religion gives people a good excuse or option to disregard

the damage we do to this planet. The promise of a "magical" place where everything and everyone is perfection has always been an excuse or option for those that think this "sky god" gave us the planet for our usage and I guess taking care of it is just not that important.

As we promote overpopulation of the planet it seems obvious that we are willingly choosing self-destruction in favor of very short-term gratification.

[mr715]

9. More.

It privileges a sub-group of human life on one planet, so devalues the potential for other life elsewhere.

It both gives humans a mythological structure to take advantage and find separation from nature, while excluding the instinct to explore and discover more.

[mr715]

7. "It's all relative" -- Excellent Einstein suggestion

Love it.

Ever see the book "How Much is a Million"? Kids picture book I had when I was...uh...uh... a kid.

We humans are very poor at understanding big numbers and exponential growth. We just kind of can't process it without a lot of specialized training.

But in terms of interplanetary distances, I think it is maybe possible someday. After we figure out how to best handle our resources here.

We have a hard limit on the amount of metals we have, but if we get productive fusion power, local space travel won't be so far fetched.