Re: The Fermi Paradox and Economics

>>>>> "JO" == John Ordover <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

JO> On 03 Nov 2003 08:20:18 -0500, Joseph Lazio
JO> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

MG> And the further one goes out from the sun, and fusion from Oort
MG> cloud sources considered, the less energy is required for
MG> everything. The strangest thing would be going back to live on any
MG> planet after the freedom of open space.

>>  Yeah, I've wondered this, too.  If one can travel interstellar
>> distances, why does one need a planet?

JO> Because on a planet, air, water, and food do not have to be
JO> artificially generated by machines that -will- break down.

Even the optimistic Fermi paradox assumes an interstellar travel speed
of only 0.1c, meaning that a trip to Alpha Centauri would take 40
years.  If we use technology only moderately more advanced than what
we can do right now, I might believe 0.001c as a ship's speed,
implying travel times of 4000 years.  Unless you have 

* severely redundant systems;
* the ability to repair during the trip; or 
* mean times between failures of hundreds to thousands of years;

you can't make the trip anyway.

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