Mankind is on the verge of achieving energy efficient spaceflight. And the only thing holding us up from complete mastery of the physical universe is a major omission in our understanding of mathematics. Most of what has been accomplished has been done in the two hundred years since we invented the steam engine. The rest is prelude.
Biological engineering can give us a very long life and allow us to prosper in space while completely avoiding the multiple hazards of Earth. It is all happening now.
My point is that this may have already happened. I have spoken of the harshness of ice age conditions, but that may be unfair. We had the tropics and we had huge coastal plains that would have been ocean moderated for much of the globe. This provided ample room for huge human populations to develop.
And then mankind leapt into space and was happy with the result. It was a simple step to properly reorient the crust ending the northern Ice Age and liberating the vast temperate land areas while giving up the coastal plains.
It was perfectly logical to allow the many surviving hunter gatherers to pick up the pieces and rebuild a new world. It has taken us 12,900 years and it is obvious that we did not break any records. Our understanding today is built on a finite set of mathematical tools and a ton of good empirical knowledge. For most of that history, we have resisted advancing that knowledge.
The only thing holding us back from moving into space is the need for an effortless one g thruster that allows a human habitat to prosper. The rest we have. Would you hesitate if it meant living for hundreds of years?
An extant space faring human population of billions living in our solar system would completely explain the much scorned UFO phenomena. It certainly removes the problem of motive. Now we know why they bother and why they do not communicate. There is no mystery for them. I would only be saddened if they did not experience compassion for us who live in the gravity well in ignorance of our options and potential lifespan.
Today we know what man can really accomplish, because we have done it. We had that exact same opportunity for fifty thousand years before the Pleistocene Nonconformity. Ask yourself, do you think that we did not do as much then?
Surprisingly, a close reading of the material that has come down through to us embedded in our cultural artifacts has tended to throw out conforming tales that fit just such a history. Or perhaps it is all shared wishful thinking.
It is a trivial matter to build an effective space habitation once man himself is modestly re engineered to prosper in the necessary environments. Everyone has heard of the Dyson sphere which is perhaps a step too far. I simply expect that we will simply inflate a balloon anchored to the ends of a central axis and spin it around the axis up to one gee at the equator. Cargo vessels can access at the axis end (zero gravity) and material may then be lowered to the equator. A suspended structure can be built from the equator inward, possibly occupying half to a third of the contained volume while maintaining useful gravity throughout. The outer wall can be readily thickened with additional balloon wall material and expansive foams that also bind forming stress skin panels. A structure with a radius of 2000 feet could house a million individuals all living with ample gravity.
Thousands could be built in the Asteroid belt and never be noticed. And an efficient outer surface of nano solar cells would be a black as coal.I can do all this today with today's technology. I am only missing a cheap one gee thruster accessing limitless energy. Perhaps dear reader you will be inspired to invent such a device.
