Human Future Exploration/Colonization

[Retro Doomer]

Well time to get nerdy on here,so we all now we humans have a population boom and are in desperate need of space
and we need a solution to this problem but what is the right solution what is the most realistic and doable with our current tech we currently have.

I have 3 Main Idea we can explore that Humanity at large could focus on.

1,Expanding Cities on the Ocean Floating Cities to create more room the ocean is large and if used properly could solve the problem pretty easily for many many generations.

2.Exploring Inner earth building Cave Cities carving ourselves deeper and creating Gigantic underground cities

3.Risk it and trying to colonize Mars which I consider the most risky of the option but also the most we could gain from if successful.

But the first two options could serve as a stepping stone a solution for the now so what should Humanity focus its energy and resources first on ?

Example of Floating water City.

Example of what a Modern Cave City may could look like

And a Mars City

Nerds Welcome the more technological knowledge that to better,
also feel free to add your own Ideas (Stay realistic) if you have any I missed.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

idk Living on the ocean top would be immensely dangerous from the typhoons or storms that the oceans produce.

 

[Netra]

Have you ever been on an oil platform in the middle of the ocean?. I don't even see it as an option.

Inside the Earth, maybe, but realistically, there are hundreds of cities on Earth with zero inhabitants that you could use. The only reason they're uninhabited is the centralism that has prevailed since the industrial revolution.
And I don't think humanity will expand to the point where we need to go to other planets, given the current population growth rates.

I don't think humanity will ever be able to colonize other planets. The necessary resources would be a colossal expense that no one will want to waste, and we're not designed to survive outside our ozone shield.

 

[lestagio]

Well time to get nerdy on here, so we all now we humans have a population boom and are in desperate need of space

Um, obviously just make City 17 so that no one can reproduce. DUH! Nah, kidding. I don't think we need more space at all, but let's go through the options here:

1. Ocean Cities - Conceptually cool, but stability seems like it would be very difficult. If the city is literally FLOATING, then it's completely susceptible to movement, especially from currents, waves, storms, etc. Obviously, it'd have to be anchored somewhere. Besides the fact that you'd still be hit pretty hard with storms and things, the other issue here would be climate change and rising water levels, which is a very real issue right now. I don't think this is a stable option.

2. Cave cities - Again, cool conceptually, but realistically wouldn't really work. It would call for insane amounts of resources and money to be used, and you'd run into many issues in terms of energy. Agriculture would be practically impossible as our most commonly produced plants that are edible require sunlight, so food would need to be entirely imported. Could you have a few underground buildings? Yeah. Could you have a whole city there? God no. Plus, this isn't even considering things like cave-ins. I think this might be a better option than building on the ocean, but it wouldn't really work either.

3. Colonizing Mars - A pretty commonly discussed idea, but again, probably wouldn't work well. Transporting people such a far distance and moving resources isn't really possible quickly, especially where we are now scientifically. There's a reason why no human has even landed on Mars before, let alone fully colonizing it. We would need to find more resources there to survive, or alternatively come up with a VERY fast and efficient way to transport people and resources to and from Earth.

If we ever really needed more space, the easiest and most realistic solution is just... build UP. Large apartment complexes and such. I mean, look at the city in The Fifth Element. These extremely tall buildings for people to live probably makes the most sense because it doesn't require MASS resources and allows people to live their lives normally. There's also uninhabited cities all throughout the planet too that could be used.

All this said, I don't think we're going to ever run out of space for people. Earth is MASSIVE. We've certainly experienced a huge population increase in the past century or so, but birth rates are slowing down pretty significantly. The prediction for the past decade or so has been that the population will peak around 2080 with ~10 billion people, at which point it would decline. We're at 8 billion people right now. 2 billion more people could definitely be sustained space-wise. The issue really comes down to resource strain more than anything else. Plus, new cities just aren't created really, although they certainly could be. Building on the ocean, or underground, or in space is not only risky, but also unnecessary. Overpopulation has actually become even less of an issue than we originally thought as faster and more plentiful food production has been discovered.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

I think cave cities can work, since you can dig down and create your own house instead of paying rent on an existing apartment complex

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

1,Expanding Cities on the Ocean Floating Cities to create more room the ocean is large and if used properly could solve the problem pretty easily for many many generations.

That would spell "doom" for us with a capital "fucked".

We are already not kind to the ocean while living outside of it (our waste has turned a patch of it so acidic, nothing can live there anymore) — I just can't see us doing this and NOT wrecking the natural balance even further in the process.

As for colonization... few words carry as many scars as that one.

We destroyed entire cultures, civilizations and ways of life while marching under that banner (the effects of which are still very much felt today) that the thought of doing it somewhere else, to something else, repulses me. Plus, there's no guarantee that we won't just have a new colonial war once counties start turning Mars into their territories (and you know that's gonna happen).

I'd much rather share the land we already have.

 

[Guinea]

Gotta go into space eventually, because the Red Giant death of our star is going to eat into the earth until every life-cell is infected with radioactive doom.

 

[ShinnAsukaYESTaylorSwiftNO]

Well, actually, we are not under a population boom as a lot of places are experiencing a baby bust

 

[Retro Doomer]

That would spell "doom" for us with a capital "fucked".

We are already not kind to the ocean while living outside of it (our waste has turned a patch of it so acidic, nothing can live there anymore) — I just can't see us doing this and NOT wrecking the natural balance even further in the process.

As for colonization... few words carry as many scars as that one.

We destroyed entire cultures, civilizations and ways of life while marching under that banner (the effects of which are still very much felt today) that the thought of doing it somewhere else, to something else, repulses me. Plus, there's no guarantee that we won't just have a new colonial war once counties start turning Mars into their territories (and you know that's gonna happen).

I'd much rather share the land we already have.

I really don't know any other term than colonizing if you settle new areas like inner earth or other planets.

Also I am talking strictly about places where no one lives also no harm done to any cultures or people.

Yes Colonial wars are bound to happen so is Human nature sooner or later but that should not discourage us from trying to advance as a species and spread our wings to new horizons.

Post automatically merged: Today at 8:05 PM

Well, actually, we are not under a population boom as a lot of places are experiencing a baby bust

In the West yes but not in Africa as Africa grows in population and those populations will move someday and they need place the world is not just the west after all.

Post automatically merged: Today at 8:12 PM

Um, obviously just make City 17 so that no one can reproduce. DUH! Nah, kidding. I don't think we need more space at all, but let's go through the options here:

1. Ocean Cities - Conceptually cool, but stability seems like it would be very difficult. If the city is literally FLOATING, then it's completely susceptible to movement, especially from currents, waves, storms, etc. Obviously, it'd have to be anchored somewhere. Besides the fact that you'd still be hit pretty hard with storms and things, the other issue here would be climate change and rising water levels, which is a very real issue right now. I don't think this is a stable option.

2. Cave cities - Again, cool conceptually, but realistically wouldn't really work. It would call for insane amounts of resources and money to be used, and you'd run into many issues in terms of energy. Agriculture would be practically impossible as our most commonly produced plants that are edible require sunlight, so food would need to be entirely imported. Could you have a few underground buildings? Yeah. Could you have a whole city there? God no. Plus, this isn't even considering things like cave-ins. I think this might be a better option than building on the ocean, but it wouldn't really work either.

You may have a point with Ocean Cities but Cave Cities are a Historical concept that worked in the past
Derinkuyu (Turkey): This ancient underground city in Cappadocia housed up to 20,000 people. It featured ventilation shafts, wells, schools, oil presses, and chapels, proving that thousands could coexist underground with primitive technology

.Matera (Italy): People lived in the Sassi di Matera cave dwellings for thousands of years. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world.

Coober Pedy (Australia): A modern, working example. Due to extreme desert heat, roughly half of this town's population lives underground today, complete with churches, stores, and hotels.

with much more primitive technology so I am certain it can work.
today as well maybe not for Million of people but for a couple of thousands and sure completely self sufficient would be Impossible with out current tech..maybe we have green houses that could maybe work.

 

[Ikagura]

I have 3 Main Idea we can explore that Humanity at large could focus on.

1,Expanding Cities on the Ocean Floating Cities to create more room the ocean is large and if used properly could solve the problem pretty easily for many many generations.

2.Exploring Inner earth building Cave Cities carving ourselves deeper and creating Gigantic underground cities

3.Risk it and trying to colonize Mars which I consider the most risky of the option but also the most we could gain from if successful.

But the first two options could serve as a stepping stone a solution for the now so what should Humanity focus its energy and resources first on ?

Or 4. Make sure not screwing up the environment and "accidentally" have bigger discrepancies between the poor and the rich?

All of the 3 are perfect breeding ground for dystopian societies...

 

[Retro Doomer]

Or 4. Make sure not screwing up the environment and "accidentally" have bigger discrepancies between the poor and the rich?

All of the 3 are perfect breeding ground for dystopian societies...

Okay Mr Pessimism also it has nothing to the with the environment I am talking purely out of the concern of limited space since Humans are growing in numbers rapidly besides it would be nice having more options to expand to.

 

[Ikagura]

Okay Mr Pessimism also it has nothing to the with the environment I am talking purely out of the concern of limited space since Humans are growing in numbers rapidly besides it would be nice having more options to expand to.

I'm being realistic and other comments are quite interesting. The ocean isn't a really welcome place thanks to the stronger waves, underground humans lacking sunlight will get health issue and colonizing another planet would require a massive terraforming work.

I think expanding humans is like adding a bandaid to a problem that requires a more complex answer.

With this logic we could settle in Antarctica since that's a full uninhabited continent yet the climate is too rough for us to survive. Inuits in the Arctic already struggled to survive and it wasn't the coldest place.

Human population will also reach a "plateau" so this means we'll probably resolve the issue more easily than going to Mars or underground.

As for colonization... few words carry as many scars as that one.

We destroyed entire cultures, civilizations and ways of life while marching under that banner (the effects of which are still very much felt today) that the thought of doing it somewhere else, to something else, repulses me. Plus, there's no guarantee that we won't just have a new colonial war once counties start turning Mars into their territories (and you know that's gonna happen).

I'd much rather share the land we already have.

Even if Mars doesn't have any population (as far as we know) I entirely agree with the connotation behind that word...

 

[What's His Face]

1. Floating cities is the most realistic option as it can be largely done with modern tech.
2. Underground cities CAN be done, but exposes massive risk of being crushed in an Earthquake.
3. A Lunar city at the south pole where there are large amounts of ice water would be feasible, but only if we're able to create pre-fab buildings (like in Star Ocean: A New Hope).
4. Mars would be a poor idea as it would require large amounts of terraforming. In which case we could just do that for massive desert areas of Earth instead.

The most likely idea for any sort of off-world colonization would be MASSIVE immigrant fleet ships - ships that are largely self-sustaining, able to grow meat in pods, use algae for both food & air production, and have "smelter ships" able to cull asteroids and the like for physical resources and fabrication to replace worn parts as-needed until the fleet finds an Earth-like planet to settle on.

 

[Bakuma1997]

All of them are Impractical in a sense

Water city? a nicely placed wave and farewell neighbors
Cave city? Ditto for a flood or a cave in
Outer space city? Unless we find how not to be driven crazy by space isolation or how to reach mars in a hour...

My choice? RESTORATION!

Ghost cities can be tore down and replaced as templates to create new housing, if the ghost city is not too dangerous, maybe it can be felt as making a postapocalyptic settlement, a working net of import/Export would take long but if it's done, we may recycle old towns

 

[Ikagura]

There's also a good reason why all major civilisations are built near the sea or around a river.

 

[Guinea]

My choice? RESTORATION!

Sometimes I fantasize about humanity coming together to build something amazing. In 2000 years we went from drinking polluted river water to building a fucking water cleaning plant. By the year 4000 we could be drinking water sourced from the outer solar system. But, we won't.

Because stupid people are surrounded by smart things and vice versa. Crazy.

 

[Retro Doomer]

My choice? RESTORATION!

Ghost cities can be tore down and replaced as templates to create new housing, if the ghost city is not too dangerous, maybe it can be felt as making a postapocalyptic settlement, a working net of import/Export would take long but if it's done, we may recycle old towns

That would be a good solution for the meantime if A the land is not full of bombs and mines ( I live Europe) B has no Toxicity in the soil than yeah we should give it a try.,

Post automatically merged: 22 minutes ago

Sometimes I fantasize about humanity coming together to build something amazing. In 2000 years we went from drinking polluted river water to building a fucking water cleaning plant. By the year 4000 we could be drinking water sourced from the outer solar system. But, we won't.

Because stupid people are surrounded by smart things. Crazy.

Sadly I do have the feeling our Technology develops quicker than we Humans do sometimes.