Ok, forget all the "FTL is impossible!!!' naysayers and just focus on this issue:

We have functional star travel, we find other worlds out there ripe for the taking.

Now, why would we go to the stars?

No, it is a serious question. Why would most people go to the stars, to new worlds?

We all know about the "noble" reasons, like exploration, the need to know, the desire to see what's over the horizon, etc.

There's the profit angle, of course. "Maybe I'll find something that makes me rich out there!"

I was thinking about less noble reasons, too.

Maybe fear would be a reason to make us go out there. Maybe people get worried that there might be "someone out there" and if we don't expand and find him he'll find us first. Maybe some people will say we need to spread out so no one attack can get us all.

How about bigotry, a time honored human tradition? Maybe some people would like to find a nice new planet, settle it with their own kind and hang a giant "No (whatevers) allowed" sign over it.

One argument about speading out is overpopulation. I don't think that's a valid one, has even if millions of people were to emigrate it wouldn't really make that big a dent in earth's population, unless we had mass "forced deportations" like some dystopic SF has predicted.

So why do you think we'd go to the stars? Are there reasons I'm missing? Or is it more likely that there'd be almost as many reasons for going to the stars as people going to the stars?

we'd go because it's there, and we are, if nothing else, an inquisitive species.

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"blacker than the blackest black... times infinity."- Nathan Explosion
The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...

One day if humans are still around I think we'd have to leave the solar system.

Don't be too quick to dismiss overpopulation of Earth as a motivator. Sure, no way we could relieve the situation here, but those able to leave might see the stars as a way to get away from the crowds.

I know I'm tempted to leave Atlanta and settle down in a nice place like the Mojave desert.

I think the best reason, and the one that should motivate us to reach for the stars as quickly as possible, is survival of the human race (and as many Earth species as we can take with).

Anything could happen to Earth. There is no question that if we are peaceful we will overpopulate it and die in our own waste. If we have wars the population will be checked but there is the chance that some group or country will unleash a weapon that will either make the planet unlivable or kill too many of us to sustain the species.

If I could go to another planet knowing that I could select a country-sized territory for my own I would jump on that ship in a heartbeat.

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The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.

Arthur C. Clarke

The Brain Science Podcast

I could easily see thousands, or hundreds of thousands of people leaving earth all at once. On a very mayflower-esque type journey.

Settling a foreign land, one that may or may not have been explored, on not only a different continent, but a different world all together... Do you need a reason? Is it not reason enough in itself?

I think that they do it because because they can. I think they will endure terrible hardships to obtain their goal. For some it would be the obtainment of knowledge or the adventure. For some it would be to escape bigotry or persecution. For some it would be to reduce the competition so as to increase the chances of obtaining whatever their goal is. For me it would be to see whatever there is to be seen, even if it is only by proxy as images and data come back from their journey.

Where do I sign up?

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(By the way, I hate it that so many papers in the areas of planetary science and geology are not easily avaiable to the dreaded "non-subscribers". It is like they are screaming at me: "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH". Good, I feel better now.)

I know you are a person who takes his physics seriously, but isn't it said that most great discoveries aren't discovered with "Eureka!" but with, "Hmmm, that's funny." Big Don

Autographs.

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The views expressed are the febrile product of an overactive imagination of a person who in shadows sees the gyrating Elvis-like ghost of Leonid Brezhnev.

Why did people first come to America? It isn't just the idea of going that is grand, the leaving can be even more important to them. The risks and costs were fairly high in their coming, yet they came.

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

"The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the universe to do..." Author: Galileo supposedly.

'Ya got anything else better to do? All the malls are looking the same nowdays....

Seriously, the best reason to spread out is that if ANYTHING major happens here (plague, terrorist with cobalt bombs, nutball general with cobalt bombs, asteroid strike, burp in the Sun, etc...), the entire human race is kaput.

Spread out and the odds of a doomsday on a GALACTIC scale are far far far less....

Now, why would we go to the stars?

No, it is a serious question. Why would most people go to the stars, to new worlds?

To me, one of the more interesting techologies in recent years is the ability to use DNA to track the human family tree. In recent years, researchers using DNA analysis have tracked human migration from our ancestral birthplace in Africa to spread across the planet.

Humanity has reached to see what was on the other side (of the hill or of the ocean) for several hundred thousand years. Why did they do it? I suspect there were several reasons, such as droughts, the available of food, the search for new territory as populations increased, etc. Much later, people explored for economic reasons such as new markets and new resources. In American history, some people were content to stay in Europe while others suffered the risks and expense of traveling to the New World. Once here, some were content to stay on the East Coast while others pushed westward to pursue new opportunities.

It'll likely be a long time before we have the technology to travel to another star. For over 30 years, we have not even had to ability to go beyond Low Earth Orbit. I suspect the first crewed vehicles to go to another star will go for exploration and scientific purposes. They'll probably go to a star where there are known planets, and even then probably solar systems that have the potential for an Earth-like planet.

If that happens, there may be a desire on the part of people to see what's on the other side and perhaps to develop a new life for themselves that wouldn't be possible if they stayed here in our local solar system. That push for colonization might take generations from the first exploratory missions. However, given the extreme distances, those first exploratory missions might well be one-way trips and colonization by default. Either way, I severely doubt any of us will be around to see it happen.

Um, actually, a lot of people came to america involuntarily, as some european countries basically cleared out their jails and swept their street urchins off. As I recall, virginia was heavily settled with "deportees" from europe.

Deporting undesirables and dissidents was popular at the time, hence the founders of the constitution banned the practice in america.

Good take on the issue there.

Hmmm, are you sure that most people really care about the survival of humanity in the abstract? I mean, humans are obviously wrecking the biosphere and polluting earth severely, but people keep right on burning fossil fuels when alternatives are available. Also, human overpopulation is a major threat to earth's survival, but few support birth control.

The human race, as a whole, does not seem tpo take it's survival very seriously and often acts in ways opposed to it's survival.

As the T800 said in T2: "It is in your nature to destroy yourselves."

Um, actually, a lot of people came to america involuntarily, as some european countries basically cleared out their jails and swept their street urchins off. As I recall, virginia was heavily settled with "deportees" from europe.

I don't know enough about exiles to Virginia in particular but I know that a lot of people signed up for up to seven years of indentured servitude (short term slavery) to pay for their fare. This was pretty common in the colonial era. A lot of people gave up a great deal to come to America. For most common people, Europe at the time offered them very little opportunity to own land or to be on their own. For a long time, America was giving land away for free to those willing to settle on it and work it.

Sending exiles to Australia was a common practice for a long time. Then there were the others who came involuntarily to America (and other places) in slave ships but that's a different story.

Some came here to escape religious persecution as well, that might also be reason to leave this planet for another one. I won't give my own views on religion as that would violiate the TOS.

I guess what it comes down to is, people will probably leave Earth if/when it is technically feasible for many of the same reasons they've migrated to other places.

Hmmm, are you sure that most people really care about the survival of humanity in the abstract? I mean, humans are obviously wrecking the biosphere and polluting earth severely, but people keep right on burning fossil fuels when alternatives are available. Also, human overpopulation is a major threat to earth's survival, but few support birth control.

A lot of what you're saying is hand-waving that isn't supported by the facts. The human birthrate has dropped considerably in the past 60 years. In several places (most of Western Europe, Russia, Japan), the birth rate is far below the replacement rate. If not of immigration, their populations would be declining. Even in most of the poorest places on Earth, the birthrate has dropped considerably.

From this source:

The world birthrate is estimated to have been around 37 per 1,000 in the early 1950s, and it is estimated at 21 per 1,000 in 2000. Since the 1950s, the birthrate for all Europe is estimated to have fallen from 21 to 10 per 1,000 (in the United Kingdom, the birth rate fell from 16 to 11 per 1,000); in the United States from 24 to 14, Canada 28 to 11, Australia 23 to 13, and New Zealand 26 to 15 per 1,000; in Latin America to have dropped from 42 to 22 per 1,000; in Asia to have halved from 43 to 21 per 1,000 (in the People's Republic of China alone, the birth rate fell from 44 to 16 per 1,000); and in sub-Saharan Africa to have declined from 48 to 41 per 1,000. A well-conceived public health strategy is likely to include provision of a range of contraceptive and other family planning services as part of broad based health interventions designed to attain sustainable economic as well as social improvements.

As for pollution, people in many impoverished countries admittedly worry far more about feeding their families than cleaning up the environment. My wife is from one of those countries so I have some info on the matter. As for industrialized nations, those with market based economies such as the US, Canada, Western Europe and Australia have developed and implemented many technologies to clean up the environment. I turn 51 next month. When I was growing up in the 1960s, about the only cars that had any form of emission controls were those sold in California. I've read (but don't have a source to confirm) that cars back them released about 400 times as much pollution per mile driven as modern cars. Comparing the technology then to today, it isn't hard to believe this is true. Back then, it was common for factories and communities to dump untreated waste into rivers. That doesn't happen any more or not for long. Better land fills, far better sewage treatment, and pollution control are the order of the day.

Admittedly, pollution control is much less of an issue in places with a demand economy such as China and the former Soviet Union. They're heavily polluted and will likely be for some time to come.

As for fossil fuels, replacements are available for some of it but only for a fraction of the energy needed to support a modern economy. As the economies improve in heavily populated places like China and India, their desire for an improved standard of living (completely understandable, IMO) will lead to an increase demand for energy. At the same time, India is perhaps the world leader in the technology of using compressed air to power cars. It's an interesting concept. China is active in developing advanced battery technology and has a fledgling electric car development effort underway. The US is offering cleaner power plant technology to China and India. If adopted, that will go a long way towards reducing their pollution.

I think we'll go to the stars simply because they're there. Some members of the human race have always been motivated for no more reason than that.

Sounds like you have added yet another option in the reasons to go, or send.

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

"The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the universe to do..." Author: Galileo supposedly.

Even if only one in a million volunteers, we have almost 7000 applicants to choose from. We can create some conditions on Earth, where only the worst senarios would be fatal. Confinment far below the surface of Earth, or elsewhere in the solar system, with a 100 year supply of essentials. We should do the underground simulation in preparation for the trip to Mars and beyond. Many prisoners etc. would volunteer. Neil