Nanotech, Colony Worlds and the Long Jump
Such mega-engineering is hard to imagine if you're thinking in terms of 20th Century technologies, but by the end of this century, molecular nanotechnology could conceivably be applied to the task, turning fields of building material like the asteroid belt into workable structures. If off-planet living becomes a serious option, then generations accustomed to living aboard enormous space colonies will surely find among their number some who decide to make the interstellar journey, even if thousands and thousands of years are involved.
Elsewhere in the post Marshall Savage's "The Millennial Project" is mentioned. I can't recommend this title enthusiastically enough; seek out a copy and prepare for a incredible ride through a future we still have a chance of attaining.
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People here might also be interested in "The Prometheus Project: Mankind's Search for Long-Range Goals" by Gerald Feinberg, an oldie but a goodie, among a wide variety of tangentially relevant other books by Feinberg.
See amazon.com and click on the author's name--quite the polymath was Gerald.
Thanks for the tip re the Feinberg title, Dr. x. I'll look that one up right away. Had not been familiar with it.
Damn! Another book to read!
Charlie Stross has a huge comment page kicking around the pros and cons of generation starships. I've been having a lot of fun posting on some of the social and domestic aspects of the problem.
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the_high_frontier_redux.html
Carol--
http://posthumanblues.blogspot.com/2007/06/charles-stross-bitch-slapped.html
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