I have been thinking about human science and exploration, and how long it takes for these processes to initiate and result in acceptance and conclusion. When considering exploration, it seems it takes about two human lifetimes to go from the initial explorations to settlement. Perhaps this is the cultural time required for the old guys and their ideas to die off, and the next generation to think seriously about the problems. Science seems to progress similarly.
This suggests the following timeline:
1969 Humans walk on the Moon
2050 Humans begin colonizing the Moon
2050 Humans begin exploring Mars
2150 Humans begin colonizing Mars
2150 Humans begin exploring the Outer Solar System
2150 Robotic explorers begin surveying Alpha Centauri and neary stars
2250 Humans begin colonizing Outer Solar System
Its too bad that this will take a long time, but each step requires dramatic cultural changes, which take lifetimes to perform.
Kevin Knuth
Boraceia, Brazil
Posted under Astronomy, Exploration, Space
This post was written by drknuth on July 11, 2008
