Life in a Space Colony, ep2: Colony Spaceships
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ค. 2024
- Part 2 of our look at life as a space colonist, looking at what the ships carrying people to new worlds would be like, and what life aboard them would be like.
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People seem to have a hard time understanding that interstellar colony ships are large cities with all the farming space and factory/mining equipment to build and support a whole new civilization. How could people think that is anything less than "Oh, my god" huge?
Can you genuinely understand and fathom the size of the entire universe? Most people can only think in terms or scales they understand. This is the reason.
"This is fleet command, reporting Mothership pre-launch status".
A step I often see glossed over in speculative space colonization is how colony ships going to new stars slow down when they get there (without theoretical technology like fusion power) - using something like a light highway concept instead. Particularly if you wanted to speed the process up, and not wait a long time for a seed ship to get there before you. You'd need to make sure it got there, so even communication would take a long time if you try to space it out too much.
Could a ship gong at a fraction of relativistic speed use gravity slingshot maneuvers to wind down their momentum once they get there? Perhaps if they released an array of light concentrating satellites to help them light-brake?
I guess the alternative could be to send some just ahead of the colony ship on their own beams of light, with the first ones getting to the destination and making a formation capable of stopping the ones behind them, and perhaps stopping a string of them behind them all along the way to help the ship accelerate or decelerate based on how close they get.
It would be cool if you did a video about how to actually make a light highway in the shortest period of time. I.E.,
It would be huge but . Not as big as most people think you see manufacturing can be made small, 3-D printers, etc. etc. improvements in industrialized and low acreage farming, hydroforming seed, farming, etc. using moisture vapor and other techniques over traditional methods. Greatly increase yield per acre on a colony ship cost is a much smaller consideration versus longevity and efficiency, so big, but perhaps not absurdly large
@@samuelmolina9496 all the facilities to support a city of hundreds of thousands to a million people is going to be the size of a city.
I literally got goosebumps when you said: "And them they look up to another galaxy and say to themselves: Why not?" This really made me think...
duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude..........................................yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssssssss
That "lazy scientist" wasn't lazy, he just wanted a dog.
Great video, as always, Mr. Arthur. I really appreciate the work you do here.
I can see Messrs Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein - three of my greatest heroes - watching these videos, nodding sagely, and saying, 'This guy interests me'. Yay for the wonderful world of science speculation, born of science fiction, the most important literary genre across all of human history. And, of course, sterling work, Mr Isaac Arthur.
Well put buddy, 100% agree.
High praise indeed, some great writers and thinkers there, thanks!
I wonder if you ever plan on writing a scifi series yourself down the line, I imagine more than a few of us are getting inspired to come up with spinning some Space Opera based on the concepts you have put in our heads.
If I discuss it on the channel as an idea, even assuming its my original idea, its open game to anyone who wants to use it to write a story, and with my blessing. I, myself, am not a good writer, I tend to go way too heavy on the exposition and am bad at making antagonists.
Sometimes the antagonist can be abstract, like a game, the environment, a damaged ship, etc. I think that would suit you a lot better.
Man, I would watch the hell out of a Hyperion TV show!
I'd love to be the IT Crowd on that ship. I bet it would never get boring
If he went to a speech therapist....
@Mr Purple I forgot he has that.
@@jameshartung6715 It's no different than an accent.
The first episode would be about making sure the target planet is not already colonised .
Being on one of those Garden Ships does sound Great.
I have to agree with your sentiment about being a permanent crew aboard a "Gardner Ship". I would also add that such a ship(s) could be considered the "Colonization Vanguard" for our interstellar colonization effort. The passenger ships would likely be sleeper types, as the people going out to join established colonies would be much more likely to want to simply go to sleep and wake up in orbit around their new home.
With several Gardner class ships leading the charge outward we have not only a steady rate of expansion out into the universe, but also well equipped and trained personal for any first contact scenario. Add in that the passenger ships would be a hundred to several hundred years behind the Vanguards would allow some leeway in case we encounter a pre-spaceflight/wheel/agriculture species, this would allow the Vanguard to radio back to the passenger ships "Hey let's leave this one alone, it's already occupied." and tell Earth "Hey send out a specialized First Contact ship, we found some Greys"
These videos are not only fun to watch but give me hope for the long-term future... something I increasingly feel the need for as i get older (despite knowing I will not see too much more of the future).
I love you man. You bring back dreams and hope to our thoughts about the future
That's exactly why I watch this channel. We live in chaotic times it feels like as the separation between 'people' and 'government' grows more pronounced, global warming looms on the horizon threatening the immediate futures of our youngest generation, while the idea that real change is possible, that things can get better, seems like an impossible dream. But amidst all of that, here's this channel, reminding us what truly great things ARE possible for us. It makes all of the world wide trauma happening now feel like growing pains for something greater and less like humanity's final death rattle.
@David Evans Damn, that is everything i feel, but would never be able to put into words. Thank you.
Ironic to consider slavery a bad thing while simultaneously wanting the state to have unilateral control over the means of production.
@@barahng
I mean, if the State doesn't stop a small elite from controlling all the wealth, slavery won't even be an option. Jokes aside, nice pepe.
@@David-uc4hc Most of that stuff is just hyperbole including climate change, is it going to cause issues definitely is it the end of human civilization hell no we just adapt advance and survive. We've been through worse throughout our large history and that was before our current technology this is nothing we can't overcome.
I like the idea of a colony ship whose crew was not so much selected as settled for, because they couldn't get the kind of applicants who sign up for the glamorous assignments. Would be a nice subversion of the usual _Star Trek_ style stories where everyone is a genius polymath who was hand-picked by the captain for their job.
I'd LOVE to be immortal crew member on a gardener ship! And damn I love your videos! Keep up the great work man!
I think you should write a HARD scifi book, I'd read it.
It is a really awesome idea, as mentioned I fell in love with it instantly. I suspect someone else could write it better though.
In collaboration with someone then perhaps?
On the other hand, if at the expense of your videos... then don't :) :)
Isaac Arthur I've seen the other ship types used in various ways throughout sci fi, but the idea of a gardener ship as you put it is both new and quite appealing. It seems as though other viewers agree. Perhaps one day we'll be meeting at the coffee shop on deck 42 to discus the Terran Alliance's decision to finally cannibalize Mercury for Dyson Swarm materials and how interesting it'll be to finally try our hand at colonizing a binary system at the next stop.
That I'd consider, I certainly enjoy world building. About the only solo enterprise I'd consider right now though would be non-fiction, some sort of coffee table science book getting into the nuts and bolts of one of the topics here, probably heavy on illustrations.
Damn, that sounds so cool. I hope humanity doesn't destroy itself so we can explore space.
me too
Humanity is unfortunately hard to destroy.
@@nowhereman6019 why is that unfortunate?
@@69Kazeshini *Because I want it to end.*
Gardener ships sound far more practical than one-shot colony ships. If something goes _really_ wrong, you still have a ship to evacuate to and maybe even with. Maybe there's a problem with the rock you chose for your first settlement and have to colonize another celestial body in the system first.
Plus there's the whole issue of having to build another colony ship afterward if you used the current one for raw materials, if you want to further colonize with the current colony as a staging ground.
Yeah the more I've thought on them the more they seem like the way to go, if you've got that on-hand manufacturing capability and extended lifespan angle, it's iffier without them.
Usually watch news in the morning but this will do much better.
Why know what goes on in the present when you can know what may happen in the future?
This is great! :D
Cody'sLab Just like your recent upload speed :)!!
I watch this guys videos as well. What a small world we live on.
David M Not really a coincedence, cody and isaac probably have audiences interested in each other's videos such as myself and you
I've seen Cody comment on a few of these videos (and vis versa), but I'd think he would find this topic extra interesting considering he's a Mars One candidate. Speaking of, what did you think of the idea of gardener ships Cody? I haven't heard of anything quite like them before, but I think they sound like a great way to spend an extended lifetime, at least for a good portion of it. Also, if you like the idea, dibs on being on the same ship, as I trust you to science the shit of any problems that may arise haha.
I love it when more popular TH-camrs comment on the little guys' channels. Thanks Cody'sLab! I'm subscribed to you as well! This is a great channel overall, and I hope you watch more of Isaac's vids!
This has become my favorite episode! I would so wander the galaxy on a gardener ship. So cool!
They do seem pretty awesome, I fell in love with them when it popped into my head.
Can't wait another week for more content, quick freeze me for a week!
it's so awesome to see your channel grow so rapidly. you really, REALLY deserve it. keep up the good work
*great
Thanks!
One of the fines channels on the Tube these days indeed. Thank gods for those. ;o)
Fabulantastic! Especially the Gardener Ships.
indeed
"Why not?"
Exactly.
This video deserves a like
"In Situation Construction" is now my favorite innuendo.
I love the description of the contractors & crew of the Hyperion, and found myself laughing out loud at a lot of it. The dynamics all felt extremely familiar to varying degrees, and I suspect that section was strongly informed/influenced (consciously or not) by your experiences in the military :)
especially the bit about the engineers/contractors, oh man lol
I'd say that is probably true :) Though come to think of it those are the sorts of problems that get dumped on my plate regularly before and after I was in the service too.
Isaac I really enjoyed this format! Building a story around the video was a really great way to bring it to life!
Yes it seemed a bit risky and we're doing it next episode too, I haven't decided if it was a good idea or not yet but it seemed the best way to try to get the more human angle, I had a ridiculous number of drafts that ended up on the ash heap before I went this route.
Phenomenal work as always.
Just finished the video, great concept, great execution, great story. Very optimistic! 10 thumbs up!
Isaac, I have found your videos to be very compelling to listen to, and I have a theory on why that might be. Have you ever considered that being forced to communicate with speech impediment may have caused you to develop a manner of speaking which goes way beyond compensating for the impediment and actually increases the informational value and the entertainment value?
I find that there is some quality to your speaking, beyond the information, that makes one want to listen to video after video, and I'm not sure that I can pin down exactly what it is.
(I imagine that it is probably some combination of meticulously developed scripting with a quirky delivery and the occasional dose of humor.)
Anyway, I have found that all of my favorite TH-cam presenters share a similar sort of very unexpected uniqueness, which allows them to make potentially boring/esoteric subjects a lot of fun (Lindybeige is a great example).
I guess this is my way of saying, "keep up the good work!" I am both inspired and humbled.
Which other youtube presenters you follow? Or used to follow? I’d love if you share some with me. Thanks in advance.
Wake up, Thursday morning, run to computer. [refresh, refresh, refresh, refr...] "There it is!!!"
Always good to watch, think and learn. thank you!
Stellar work as always, Isaac. ;)
Oh you.
This is great! Sign me up. As long as I can smoke on board I'm in!
John Di Francisco The O'Neill Cylinder of the 70's proposed a 30% oxygen content in the atmosphere so that the atmosphere pressure could be dropped while retaining the desired vapour pressures, this greatly reduced the tensile strength needed for the pressure hull. If the proposed approach from the 70's is taken then there would be no smoking allowed. However, if the Soviet and now Russian approach of using sea level atmospheric pressures are taken then smoking might be allowed though it would not be wise to do so. An additional measure to improve the safety of smoking with respect to the integrity of the spaceship would be to adopt the 15% oxygen level on US nuclear subs, after all Americans don't think much anyways.
@John Di Francisco - Of course you can smoke! You can be the ship’s doctor!!
I love the way the physician has to deal with Dave - who is convinced that the ship's computer is out to get him.
And HAL, the ship's computer, who is convinced *Dave* is out to get *him*.
Immortality in a Gardener ship colony. #LifeGoals
You totally romanticized this concept. Well done.
24:40
sounds a lot like the Polynesian culture depicted in Moana, a culture built around continuous voyage
Ryukachoo I would equate it more to the migration of stoneage man from Africa to six of the seven continents on Earth by just building the next village over the next rise. This could happen with just large space habitats such as Stanford Torus's, Bernal Spheres, and O'Neill Cylinders, never mind such habitats with advanced propulsion. If we want to migrate to the stars, we just need to start building such habitats never mind the Interstellar spaceships, besides a generation ship would likely be such a habitat just with more dramatic propulsion. The space habitats are the key to space colonization not colonies on Mars though admittedly it will be cool to see the SpaceX Mars colony built.
Honestly, I tend to think that Terra-forming Mars at this point has become such a cultural touchstone of the human imagination when it comes to Spaceflight, that we'll do it even if it isn't necessarily as efficient as constructing orbital habitats. Sometimes it isn't so much what's easiest, but what makes the heart thump and makes you willing to work until your fingers go numb.
Isaac my man! This is mind blowing stuff. Enjoyed it muchly and looking forward to next episode.
Why haven't I heard about you before?? This is just what I've been looking for. Thank you, thank you very very much for your work. I'm loving it.
This is beautiful. I love your videos so much.
Yessss!!!
My Weekly Dose of IsaacArthur!!
The best worst thing this channel has done for is making me even more impatient for when we finally start colonizing space. I'd really wish the NASA's budget was an order of magnitude bigger.
You'r video's are truly amazing and most of all incredibly informative and for a bit of my own this series has actually given me an idea about a story to write around it. Thanks and keep up the good work.
I love how, in amongst the awesome vision, you intertwine the back story
We all love you Isaac.
A gardener ship .... the first new idea I’ve heard on the topic in a long time. Brilliant!
imagine a star trip taking 3 generation long. with no ice and with mortality.
the middle generation is born in space and dies in space withouth ever leaving the ship.
Yes I don't think this approach would be terribly popular unless it was the only alternative, so if it were I imagine we'd do the "Oort Crawl" we've discussed in a few other episodes instead.
Als on multi generation ship that last much longer(say inter galaxtic) some People May take over the ship in the form of revolution. Or if we got 100 generation ship. Living on a planet becomes a myth or Legend. They might forget about it and think the space ship was built by some God.
You could definitely get some weird cultures popping up on them, I had a brief image of them getting old-school Egyptian and stop colonizing and simply storing their dead bodies in cryo-tubes and colonizing equipment to dump on to some planet, leaving and thinking that those people and their burial goods would now rise up on their new world/heaven, then heading off for the next place :)
That would probably make a good novella.
I also had a question about your space warfare episode. What if want to take over another ship instead of destroying it. Maby the other ship as some usefull data you want
If you mean a boarding action by actual humans, you'd have to fry all their point-defense turrets first, I've never been able to think of a sane way to carry out a marine boarding action on a ship that was still running with its PD operational. I think you'd have to be a position where they knew they were screwed and wanted to live for it to work. Either you've mauled them and they no it's over or you are basically showing up with more/bigger ships and saying 'heave to and prepare to be boarded, or vaporized'
This is easily may favourite channel on TH-cam for learning! Thank you!!
Less than 30K subscribers? You deserve 1 billion!
You should definitely write books! You are so imaginative, bright, thoughtful, funny and intense! Great job!
One of your best episodes, Very inspirational, it makes me want to write a story about that Gardner ship as it goes fourth seeding the Galaxy with Humans.
You have given me a fascinating sense of life in a distant future. Perpetual colony ships are unspeakably captivating, but sound viable as well. US aircraft carriers are the closest we have to them, and they are cities in their own right with a crew of a few thousand. Those ships are expected to last 50+ years, so they will host several generations.
Deciding to leave with the ship to the next colony would be a lot like leaving high school for college. You say goodbye to many of your friends and it is bittersweet, but a Methuselah civilization would have no choice but to expand continuously.
Also, starting my own TH-cam channel on under-appreciated computer topics (I have a few episode scripts that I'm editing, and I will force myself to finally start the audio tomorrow), and you've made me realize that it's possible to do 20-35 minute long-form videos, whereas I was only thinking of 4-8 minute short-form earlier. So thanks for the inspiration! But on the other hand, I'm addicted to your videos, and so I have not put nearly enough time into making my own!
Thanks Chris, and good luck on the production, just remember to take your time and never hesitate to redo parts you don't like, second takes on audio, etc. It's very easy on these longer productions to get a bit tired and try to rush. :)
Awesome as always!
Thank you for the prestige level run down of space colonizing and the look into daily life!
This and part one are two of my favorite episodes on your channel!! Thanks, Isaac, you rock!!!
Oh my God there's a part 3!?!?
I love the idea of a gardener ship. It's just great!
I've been watching your channel now for a few weeks and just subscribed. Great work man, keep it up.
This Channel is Truly Amazing! So many interesting topics and Explained very Well.
Love the humour Isaac 😄
Thanks Isaac. Another great video. 10/10
What a detailed and expansive vision. Great work dude!
Thanks Mat!
Recently found your channel and really enjoy the optimism. This 3pt series is my favorite thus far and makes me want to get on board the next Unity!
I appreciate the concern about "speech impediment", but he's actually an excellent orator, very easy to listen to, it's more of a modest accent.
So interesting, great video!!
That was awesome!
Issac, do you make your own animations in this in blender?
Some are mine, yes, you can usually tell if I made a given animation or used some stock footage by the quality. If it looks like it escaped from a low budget 1980's scifi film, its probably one of mine :)
Isaac Arthur mind if I make a slight recommendation?
When you have video scenes, just like you have key frames to control the movement of objects you could use key frames in the seed section of the sampling sub menu of the blender rendering tab - as the graininess of your animations currently is all static because the seed remains static through all frames which can be a bit jarring whereas in real cinematography the graininess changes from frame to frame, therefore by having it constantly change the seed it might make the animations seem more natural.
From my own tests there doesn't appear to be any differences in the rendering times so this shouldn't change production times.
Although personally I haven't much experience with how this works since I tend to deal with single frames at huge sample numbers but I believe that it should help....
interesting idea, I'll have to give that a try.
I can't say it enough times, Incredible channel you run here. Top notch content.
Thanks, I always enjoy hearing it :)
Dude, you are officially the best futurist in the world.
Absolutely amazing video : )
thank you for the nicest daydream, isaac. i wouldn't mind tagging along for the ride. maybe we wake up from this and find ourselves on exactly that voyage. its a long way to andromeda, after all.
life is but a dream.
This is some sweet information from my perspective, that of a pen and paper role player. I am taking notes for a possible science fiction scenario in the future. Thank you for this excellent work!
You're almost telling a story in this episode, I like it, it stokes my imagination
I am watching all the episodes in order, this is the 50th, and it is the most awesome yet. I admire your capacity to dream the future in a way that makes us say: Yes, that is very likely the way it will happen.
listening to this as i fell asleep last night brought about a dream of interstellar colonization. i’m certain this was a lucid dream, but i only became lucid later on. the way you described the setting, people, and overall everything was so immaculately excellent that my mind created a scenario based on the information you gave. english bad sorry lol, but it was such an amazing dream, can’t believe that actually happened last night ahah. love your channel issac! love it so much, you are a gem in this harsh unforgiving society! love from mariupol ukraine!!
Isaac, thank you so much for this visionary channel. I look forward every week to hearing your latest scientifically speculative thoughts on the possibilities for the future of humanity. You are worthy of respect and you have my sincere respect.
It seems to me that on many colonies, the role of the apprentice cannot be underestimated. There must always be someone capable of doing a particular job, & you can't justify 2 or 3 of the same profession in many cases. On any colony ship, I would want all the children to work in the gardens (or hydroponics, etc.) as part of their basic education. There would also be a great need for having every citizen know some basic science, be computer literate, etc. It would be quite essential to maintain the right mix of generalists & specialists - & have back-up personnel. Just because much of the future might be highly automated & computerized, that doesn't mean you can have colonists just lounging around. If there's not enough to keep someone busy, you've got too many colonists! Time to ship them somewhere! These things are always fun to think about, & you obviously do your homework! Thanks for another great video. I look forward to the next one - as usual. Rikki Tikki.
Truly fascinating...
Keep living your dream Isaac. Doing this with a speach impediment is an inspiration to me. Kind regards from Belgium!
Your content is bloody excellent sir.
Probably in my top 5 favourite videos on youtube amazing
14:14 is where he talks about the interstellar colony ships.
Gardener Ships - what a great idea. I'm glad I took the time to watch this episode (didn't sound that appealing at first)! This channel is a marvel for anyone who is in to SciFi, and I wonder why it didn't hit 1,000,000 subscribers yet (but who knows, one day it might ;)).
Wow... I'll board with you on the garderner ship!
LOVE YOUR VIDEOS
Great video. I like this format, where you make assumptions about the time, technology available, and plausibility. it seems it gives you some more time to build the narrative you're working towards, and aren't bogged down in explaining your assumptions all the way out.
I know I've said this on your other videos, but I really like your work. You're quickly growing to be my favorite content producer on this site. I can't wait until next Thursday!
Thanks, I very hesitant to use the narrative approach, it seems to have worked though.
Better mark the 22nd on my calendar, "Stay at Home" civs fascinate me greatly, looking forward to it :)
An interstellar craft has to be able to function as a permanently sustainable settlement far away from any star. Which luckily enough is close to what you have to be able to build to fly O'Neill cylinders around the outer solar system. I could see the two categories of craft blending, with long-term outer system O'Neill cylinder colonies occasionally deciding to stockpile supplies, boost their thrusters, and plot a slow course for other stars (or heck, even the middle of nowhere) once their systems are complete and robust enough. If you already have generation after generation living permanently in space, the "generation ship" concept starts to sound a lot less scary.
Yeah I think I mentioned in the Kardashev video that any fusion powered habitat was effectively an interstellar spaceship, though you would build them a bit differently, a prolonged .1g acceleration would do pretty weird things to a classic O'neill in terms of the water and dirt rolling over people. :) Your landscaping in a ship form needs to be low on mass and designed with some acceleration in mind.
Fantastic! I'd like to join you on your adventures to the edge of the galaxy.
I would LOVE to see a high budget movie or TV show based on life during space colonization, but with you looking over the writers' shoulders making it as plausibly realistic as possible.
The writers and SFX guys would probably murder by the end of the first week. :)
'Detailed instructions on where to file the complaint!' - I'm sure they were!
isaac Arthur, in a justice league of his own :D This video was awesome.
Make a video about Gardner ships. Love the idea!
Gardener ships! Was looking for this episode
It's nice to see another fellow Alpha Centuri fan! Keep up the good work!
This excellent!
Woot! Smac is such a wonderful game! I had heard you bring up unity in other videos and wondered if that's where you got it. Just another reason to love this channel!
The Captain is cute (っ◔◡◔)っ ❤
Magnificent!
This video is ~1.5 years old.
And still a great video ^_^
Your channel is better than most TV show about space ever was (that I know of as I don't have any TV set since about 15 years); no dramatic music, no overly dramatic narrator tone of voice and far more exciting topics.
I have to admit the lack of dramatic tone and music is mostly an inability to do it, I tend to crack up laughing when I try.
I personally find that unnecessary and most of the time borderline ridiculous. ^^
I was playing sid meiers alpha centuari and listening to this. Made my day when Isaac mentioned it
Great video (as I have come to expect from you, Isaac).
Thank you for your efforts.
Sleeper ships as in their standard definition of 'going on ice' i.e. completely frozen, is currently impossible, or at least very improbable.
Like you explained (and made clearer to understand for me, as well), if you have the possibility of effectively killing someone by freezing them completely, and then resurrecting them at the target location, you also have effective immortality methods on hand as well.
The only type of quasi-sleeper ship would be a hibernation ship with people not frozen, but cooled to near freezing, but who still retained a minute amount of active metabolism.
Maybe people who somehow have gained something similar to bear DNA sequenced into them, which allows them to massively reduce their nutrient needs, as well as getting rid of their waste material while sleeping, including a much slowed metabolism rate, which effectively only results in slowed, but not stopped aging.
I saw a documentary on the proposed effects of reducing metabolism to approxiamately 1%-2% of current speeds with the biological equivalent of bear metabolisms during hibernation.
There were quite a few aspects that were totally astonishing for me.
One was that bears seem to loose virtually no muscle mass during hibernation, but only use up the fat stored in their fat cells, dito bone strength drops only a tiny amount, even during periods of nearly total physical inactivity.
Second, bears recycle their urine inside their bodies for a large part (nearly 100%) while in hibernation, dito for a lot of their feces.
Third, most other deleterious biological effects of virtually no activity come to nearly a complete stop.
Fourth, when entering hibernation, nearly NO deleterious heart, liver, or other defects were shown in fattened-up bears.
How many of those studies have continued, and how far the research has advanced in the last 4-5 years, I can't say.
The final comment was fun: maybe we won't be seeing super-fit, slim, trimmed-down astronauts in the future.
But rather super-fat, sumo-type astronauts, who enter hibernation for 10 years, effectively sleeping and loosing weight, then pop out for an eating binge,
fattening up for the next leg of hibernation, and rinse and repeat until they reach their destination.
We wouldn't be looking for those people who have a family history of thin, trim, super-sportive types who don't put on weight no matter how much they eat.
If you are chunky like me, you know the types - you know, those slim ones you look at enviously as they are just gobbling up their third helping of triple-chocolate icecream with double whipped cream and roasted almond chip toppings while complaining that they gained only half a pound during this diet.
While you are nursing your single scoop low-fat, nearly no calories crushed ice with a quarter dose of strawberry flavor squirted over it.
Yepp, and I am looking at you guys, you know who you are! (EEEVIL SCOWL)
;-)
Rather, we'd be looking for those people whose families tended toward that decidedly chunky, beer-belly look; those who barely look at a bar of chocolate and gain weight from it.
Because we wouldn't want our colonists out of hibernation for long
Rather, we want them fattened up quickly, so they can reenter hibernation as soon as possible, thus loosing as little of their precious lifetimes as possible.
Also, this would give an automated system enough time to regrow enough food for those large eating splurges between hibernation end and beginning.
Thus, as long as we have no method of reversing the effects of aging, but only dramatically slowing aging (which might neccessitate sleeping in hibernation tanks) the concept of 'frozen'
sleeper ships is (at least currently) improbable.
Generation ships:
I have some doubts about generation ships actually survivng a 1000 year trip to the next stellar system.
Because I believe, many people who are up for colonizing distant planets don't want to be only the first generation of a long line of generations who at the end MIGHT possibly reach their destination.
No, I believe many people want to reach their destination themselves, and see their new colony with their own eyes, rather than knowing that their great-great-great-grandchildren might look out through the view ports and see their new colony planet slowly rotating into view beneath their ship.
I believe that many passengers on a generation colony ship would rather go into long legs of hibernation than live out their lives in such a huge ship.
A generation ship's passengers might come to see themselves only as the biological birthing mechanisms for the next generation, just popping out kids as required by some democratic or dictatorial process which decides when and how and how many new kids with certain types of 'properties' are required for the continuation of the ship.
I could see that such a ship faces the risk of revolt, or illegal births cropping up, similar to China under Mao Tse Tung, when they strictly enforced their birth controls.
This could result either in strict, maybe even draconian measures being taken against unruly passengers.
Which again could result in an 'under-deck movement' cropping up, desiring the overthrow of the captain/AI/scientists/whatever in control.
Because people who love the idea of roaming free under a new sky somehow don't seem to be the same type of people who would easily buckle under draconian restrictions on birth rates, and their own plans for their families.
But heck, maybe I am just too pessimistic about the optimism of such colonists on a generation ship.
Cool! I can't wait till we reach Tau Ceti! On to episode 3! :)
I´d say this was the best episode.