Iron Tower Studio ForumsRPGColony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing GameSpace exploration & colonization research and inspirations
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5   Go Down
Print
Author Topic: Space exploration & colonization research and inspirations  (Read 35083 times)
Vahha
Testers

Posts: 7644


S:6 D:10 C:8 P:8 I:9 Ch:4 Sp 7 D 8 CS 7 Cr 10


View Profile
« Reply #45 on: October 22, 2017, 02:31:07 pm »

In the terms of gene pool sufficiency, they would just carry frozen semen of many men, at that in any kind of mutiny women would be totally sacred and untouchable by either side.
Logged

“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell, 1984
Scott
Developer

Posts: 2415



View Profile
« Reply #46 on: October 24, 2017, 09:31:26 am »

...unless they carried a stock of frozen eggs as well.
Logged

contributed to: Age of Decadence | Dead State | Dungeon Rats | Battle Brothers | Fell Seal:Arbiter's Mark | Stygian
working on: Colony Ship RPG | Encased | ATOM RPG | Realms Beyond | Fell Seal:Missions&Monsters | Urtuk: The Desolation
Vahha
Testers

Posts: 7644


S:6 D:10 C:8 P:8 I:9 Ch:4 Sp 7 D 8 CS 7 Cr 10


View Profile
« Reply #47 on: October 24, 2017, 10:50:41 am »

Umm, no. Human incubation devices would be way too sophisticated (= requiring skilled operators, expensive maintenance, and complex expendable materials supply), slow and costly, thus totally impractical for a colony, they could never possibly replace women.
Logged

“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell, 1984
Scott
Developer

Posts: 2415



View Profile
« Reply #48 on: October 30, 2017, 12:28:25 pm »

Umm, no. Human incubation devices would be way too sophisticated (= requiring skilled operators, expensive maintenance, and complex expendable materials supply), slow and costly, thus totally impractical for a colony, they could never possibly replace women.

Haha, what? Interstellar travel is perfectly reasonable but creating a baby from an egg and sperm ex-vitro (something that is possible right now) is "too sophisticated"?
Logged

contributed to: Age of Decadence | Dead State | Dungeon Rats | Battle Brothers | Fell Seal:Arbiter's Mark | Stygian
working on: Colony Ship RPG | Encased | ATOM RPG | Realms Beyond | Fell Seal:Missions&Monsters | Urtuk: The Desolation
Scott
Developer

Posts: 2415



View Profile
« Reply #49 on: October 30, 2017, 12:32:53 pm »

Seems it will require to alter the human nature itself (which is impossible) to make small self-contained communities able to survive for a long time
Impossible why? A highly tailored drug that negates aggression is one of many different possible solutions.

In the Book of the Long Sun the issue was resolved by providing a race of reproducing mechanical lifeforms which the humans used to fight their wars right on board the ship.
Logged

contributed to: Age of Decadence | Dead State | Dungeon Rats | Battle Brothers | Fell Seal:Arbiter's Mark | Stygian
working on: Colony Ship RPG | Encased | ATOM RPG | Realms Beyond | Fell Seal:Missions&Monsters | Urtuk: The Desolation
Wrath of Dagon
Colonist
*
Posts: 3273



View Profile
« Reply #50 on: October 30, 2017, 01:24:56 pm »

Seems simpler just to send the reproducing mechanical lifeforms.
Logged

Don't graze me bro!

4 8 10 10 4 4
Spyros
Journeyman

Posts: 185


View Profile
« Reply #51 on: November 08, 2017, 06:53:15 am »

Umm, no. Human incubation devices would be way too sophisticated (= requiring skilled operators, expensive maintenance, and complex expendable materials supply), slow and costly, thus totally impractical for a colony, they could never possibly replace women.

Haha, what? Interstellar travel is perfectly reasonable but creating a baby from an egg and sperm ex-vitro (something that is possible right now) is "too sophisticated"?

I certainly hope it is possible ex-vitro, otherwise where did we all come from? :-)

Interstellar travel is pushing big things in some direction, almost in a void. Not too hard once you have the big thing in space already, and that part Vince already covered a little.

Ultimately, artifacts such as incubation devices, even if completely feasible, have a production and maintenance cost, and are competing in a market, with women in this case. Doing things with tech is often a geek's rationalisation for his geekery. Nobody important thinks like that (exceptions include the sixties in the US at least, where being an engineer or scientist seems to have been a relatively high status position). Economic concerns drive the world, and we use people where already today we could use existing technology. Except in the little bubble of western societies, humans seem cheap. With the decline of the middle class, you can start seeing it happening to our flabby meat too.

I would accept mass use (more than a last-resort redundancy device for the mission) of incubation devices if you had a convincing narrative that explained how they became a commodity and got cheaper than people.
Logged
Scott
Developer

Posts: 2415



View Profile
« Reply #52 on: November 08, 2017, 08:22:48 am »

Here's a question: do you think it's cheaper or more efficient to maintain a self-replicating population of 50,000 people (including housing, food, entertainment, education, medicine, ad infinitum) over tens of generations of space travel, or to simply maintain a crew and grow the first batch of colonists from eggs when you arrive?
Logged

contributed to: Age of Decadence | Dead State | Dungeon Rats | Battle Brothers | Fell Seal:Arbiter's Mark | Stygian
working on: Colony Ship RPG | Encased | ATOM RPG | Realms Beyond | Fell Seal:Missions&Monsters | Urtuk: The Desolation
Spyros
Journeyman

Posts: 185


View Profile
« Reply #53 on: November 09, 2017, 04:11:08 am »

Here's a question: do you think it's cheaper or more efficient to maintain a self-replicating population of 50,000 people (including housing, food, entertainment, education, medicine, ad infinitum) over tens of generations of space travel, or to simply maintain a crew and grow the first batch of colonists from eggs when you arrive?

Depends on what you already have. If you already have enough space, such as a decommissioned cargo ship in our case, a whole ecosystem can fit in it and be self-sustaining. Very isolated islands are earth-borne examples of this, even with people on it sometimes. Life is extremely resilient to a lot of long-term stresses and keeps regenerating, something that human engineering will not achieve for some time. The initial cost of religious people is zero, or even negative, since, as sects have shown to be doable, you can graciously accept their finances for the privilege of seeding the new garden of eden. No need for much medicine as long as people keep getting born, and the only education you need is faith in your lord. You would not be relying on your minimal crew to stay sane. A larger population will have correction mechanisms, such as rebellions, to avoid a deranged few from deviating from the basic instinct of survival. The game here seems to start from the premise that those assumptions weren't enough (or was it all part of the plan? can't wait to find out).

Growing eggs wen you arrive could be cheap if you have nothing and need to build the ship from scratch (much less space needed), and you can't find people at a reasonable price. That would be the case in a sane setting, where humans are valued and feel they have a good enough future in the solar system already.

Note also that people nutty enough to join this kind of religious enterprise might simply also be against any machine-assisted procreation.
Logged
Vahha
Testers

Posts: 7644


S:6 D:10 C:8 P:8 I:9 Ch:4 Sp 7 D 8 CS 7 Cr 10


View Profile
« Reply #54 on: March 06, 2018, 06:02:03 am »

RIP Proxima b's possible inhabitants, 5 years ago was their last day... it took 10 seconds for their sun to fry the planet.

http://www.space.com/39829-nearest-exoplanet-proxima-b-superflare.html
« Last Edit: March 06, 2018, 03:51:32 pm by Vahha » Logged

“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell, 1984
Scott
Developer

Posts: 2415



View Profile
« Reply #55 on: March 07, 2018, 09:22:36 am »

Here's a book I read: An Unkindness of Ghosts
Logged

contributed to: Age of Decadence | Dead State | Dungeon Rats | Battle Brothers | Fell Seal:Arbiter's Mark | Stygian
working on: Colony Ship RPG | Encased | ATOM RPG | Realms Beyond | Fell Seal:Missions&Monsters | Urtuk: The Desolation
sporky
Artisan

Posts: 987


View Profile
« Reply #56 on: April 09, 2018, 10:36:48 am »

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy

I haven't read this yet, but it is on the list.
Logged

People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there.
CORMAC MCCARTHY, The Road
Nick
Administrator

Posts: 2479


En Taro Adun!


View Profile WWW
« Reply #57 on: April 10, 2018, 09:14:06 am »

I've recently finished "Tales of Pirx the Pilot" by Stanislaw Lem, enjoyed it greatly. Loved the retrofuturistic atmosphere and the world, where space navigation is a common, but dangerous job. Lem's technical mind created a lot of scenarios and mysteries that I found both believable and amusing:

(click to show/hide)

It's amazing how 40 years old sci-fi is much better than today's blockbusters and lazy scripts.

P.S.: added the abovementioned ones to to-read list.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2018, 09:22:25 am by Nick » Logged

"But is the best good enough?"
Oscar
Ga1us
Novice

Posts: 34


View Profile
« Reply #58 on: April 30, 2018, 01:10:24 am »

Here's a question: do you think it's cheaper or more efficient to maintain a self-replicating population of 50,000 people (including housing, food, entertainment, education, medicine, ad infinitum) over tens of generations of space travel, or to simply maintain a crew and grow the first batch of colonists from eggs when you arrive?

Despite that nobody now effectively knows the actual costs of both ex-vitro birth or sustaining a colony on a spaceship (and in my experience economy, once calculated, is the thing that often surprises) I would support that eggs have many apparent advantages.

But this doesn’t make the launching of the expedition we have in plot unlikely.

As modern day Christianity is largely against us interfering in God's monopoly on reproduction (i.e. is against such adjacent subjects as cloning or even abortions) I think even if ex-vitro reproduction is cheaper using it to build a new Eden would be in essence contrary to the beliefs of people starting such expedition.
 
Logged
dogwaffler
Novice

Posts: 26


View Profile
« Reply #59 on: June 06, 2018, 04:19:11 pm »

An interesting watch that I stumbled into, going over some of the modern theory on human interstellar colonization. He even goes lightly over generation ships, and some of the modern anthropology and psychology theories on the subject, as well as some of the history on the subject. (it's about 8 minutes long, so don't expect too much detail, here.)


It also reminded me of Rendezvous With Rama, which is a trilogy by Arthur C. Clarke (although he didn't finish it before he died), that plays out some of the human interaction that could go on in an environment like that; not exactly a colony ship, but a generation ship.
(click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: June 06, 2018, 04:31:10 pm by dogwaffler » Logged
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5   Go Up
Print
Jump to: