Spaceships of the Mind

Fülszöveg

SPACESHIPS OF THE MIND
Able scientists working in the thick of present discoveries about the universe and life are thinking seriously of a large-scale migration of human beings into space. Beyond the recent schemes for building habitats in orbit about the Earth, they suggest ways of mining the smallest and largest planets, and even of dispatching the first ship to the stars. By one estimate, human beings can take over the entire Galaxy in five million years.
In the belief that progress based on science is not a dead concept, Nigel Calder has consulted experts in a wide range of fields, inviting them to cast their minds forward to the twenty-first century and beyond. As he reports here, some of them offer bold proposals for making better use of the Earth's own resources. Others reflect on the forthcoming evolution of life. A space-inspired reappraisal of the nature of living systems casts doubts on some of the simpler assumptions about how space settlements will perform. Yet the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

SPACESHIPS OF THE MIND
Able scientists working in the thick of present discoveries about the universe and life are thinking seriously of a large-scale migration of human beings into space. Beyond the recent schemes for building habitats in orbit about the Earth, they suggest ways of mining the smallest and largest planets, and even of dispatching the first ship to the stars. By one estimate, human beings can take over the entire Galaxy in five million years.
In the belief that progress based on science is not a dead concept, Nigel Calder has consulted experts in a wide range of fields, inviting them to cast their minds forward to the twenty-first century and beyond. As he reports here, some of them offer bold proposals for making better use of the Earth's own resources. Others reflect on the forthcoming evolution of life. A space-inspired reappraisal of the nature of living systems casts doubts on some of the simpler assumptions about how space settlements will perform. Yet the proposals for moving out into space, in large or small groups, are becoming too vigorous to ignore.
'I do not think living in space is a nice idea', Calder writes. 'Apart from the danger and discomfort, people will no doubt fight and exploit one another out there, and our descendants will evolve into weird creatures that we might hardly acknowledge as human. But the proposed break-out into the universe is exciting and it has the hallmarks of a successful big idea - of something that people will actually do, almost regardless of the opinions of bystanders. Dreams of adventure, riches or freedom will pull them, while the pressure of population pushes them from behind.'
Illustrations in colour and black and white show the arena of space, as currently explored, and many of the schemes for human action in it. Vissza