[QUOTE="XxUkZzHuNtErZz"]Warning This is an extremely random comment, you are advised to where protective gear Right do you thing we will ever conquer, any random planets, and have an earth empire, or somthing similar i think that we should, because it would be pretty cool, and we'll have space ships, Yay What do you think Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm??? OMG if its like Star-trek or what ever its called I'll cry!! But that dont matter all that does is what you think. Things that make your brain go boooom! MrGeezer
See...here's the thing. Everyone wants Star Trek/Star Wars/Aliens/Starship Troopers/whatever.
But no one ever realizes that all of those COOL science fiction space stories involve what HAS to be faster-than-light travel.
And realistically speaking, that is probably NEVER going to happen. Because travelling THROUGH space at-or-above the speed of light is absolutely 100% IMPOSSIBLE, regardless of technology. The only other option is invoking stuff like warp drives or wormholes, which only MIGHT be impossible within the physical framework of the universe. And even the laws of the cosmos do allow for that kind of stuff, almost everyone agrees that it will be PRACTICALLY impossible to use it as it is seen in sci-fi movies, because the energy expenditures would likely be PRACTICALLY impossible (though not PHYSICALLY impossible).
So, in all likelihood, the best we could ever hope for is a method of PROPULSION which allows us to achieve NEAR-light speeds THROUGH space. As in, a propulsion engine which lets us get to something like 80% of the speed of light.
And that's just not good enough.
That'd still require some SERIOUS money and some SERIOUS long-term planning in order to even get someone to any planet which could at least POTENTIALLY serve as our second home. And it'd require multiple trips there before colonization even becomes a realistic option.
Even given the best-case realistic projection of technological advancement, and assuming that there coincidentally just happen to be some extra-solar planets VERY near to us which we CAN colonize, the entire colonization project would likely be a long-term project spanning several thousands of years.
And again with the long-term planning. As a species, that's one thing that humans SUCK at. Even if we disregard the POSSIBILITY of anyone trying to start a space program that won't begin to achieve its goals for another few thousand years (at best), there's all sorts of other factors that make such an endeavor practically impossible. Even if we're being generous and saying that it would ONLY take a mere 2,000 years to get a SELF-RELIANT colony established on an extra-solar planet, that's still 2,000 years in which THE ENTIRE PROJECT is dependent on the people living here on Earth. And budgets get cut, civilizations fall, priorities change, and governments change. Even if there was a strong will to keep such a project going, and even if Average Joe Taxpayer was fine with voting to have his taxes go to a project which wouldn't even POTENTIALLY BEGIN to pay off until he's been dead for a few thousand years, that still doesn't take into account that human civilization is NOT STABLE. Even if the WILL to keep such a project going existed (and such a will likely wouldn't exist), the MEANS to keep such a ridiculously long-term project going would likely not exist (due to the amount of stability that such a long-term project would require, and due to how it is SHOCKINGLY difficult for us to maintain even CLOSE to the level of long-term stability that it would require for us to make this happen).
We were born here, and in all likelihood we will die here. The in-between is ours, but realistically any expections of anything beyond that are just pipe dreams. Sort of like the rich-ass people who get their heads frozen after death, futilely clinging onto the frankly-sad hope that one day the future will allow them to be immortal.
Someone's a little pessimistic.
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