Do you think humans will ever explore different galaxies?

[Jax Humanhater]

I am crossing my fingers hoping in the next 300-500 years, we will have space vehicles that can travel at the speed of light.

Other galaxies are billions of light years away from us, and in 50-100 years, we will have traveled to all eight planets of the Milky Way Galaxy.

If I were reincarnated (I don't believe in reincarnation like Hindus), I would hope my wet dream of humans circumnavigating the infinite vacuum of space would become a reality.

I would also wet my pants if there is exotic civilisations in all of the galaxies, such as a primitive race of humanoid natives or a super high-tech race of aliens or primates.

The problem is, we will be long dead, but, our descendants will continue the conversation.

Your thoughts?

 

[Hampus Andersson]

and in 50-100 years, we will have traveled to all eight planets of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Did i just read this right? I´ve taken a couple of beers but i´m pretty sure it says 8 planets in the milky way.

I think 8 BILLION would be a far more appropiate number. And yes, if we are strictly talking goldielock-zone planets it´s believed to be in the billions.

Some say around the order of 60 billion (earthlike planets)

EDIT: Surely you must mean the solar system? It has 8 planets.
And it´s not far into the future some people will take a one-way trip to Mars.

 

[Jax Humanhater]

I need to learn more astronomy, Hampus. Thanks for the correction!

So, we will have to travel to other planets outside the Solar System in within the Milky Way that could be millions of light years away?

Okay, maybe, we will have to explore the rest of the Milky Way which will take not too many years traveling on a vehicle capable of light speed.

I'll admit, I kind of don't know what I'm talking about. What I am talking about could be possible if the human race was capable of science fiction level technology and intelligence.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

It´s fine by me, if you haven´t studied these things nobody can blame you.
For me, knowing my own solar system and the milky way, is something we were taught at a very young age in Sweden.

Yea i think visiting the planets in our own solar system is priority 1.
We haven´t even went to our neighbor planet yet. (with humans)

As far as exploring the Milky way, it´s 100.000 light years across.
This means that if you build an aircraft that can go at the speed of light (which is impossible as it would take infinite energy) it would take 100,000 years just to go from one side to the other.

You´ll never be able to travel at the speed of light no matter what technology you have or how advanced your planet is.
But you could instead "warp" space and time around you and sort of travel at many times the speed of light.

Best way i can describe this is if you have a piece of paper. Draw a dot on the right side of the paper, then flip the paper around and draw another dot on the left side.

Instead of travelling the papers length, fold the paper so that the two dots are on either side of the paper. A worm-hole if you like.

And keep in mind, we are only talking about our galaxy here.
There are billions of galaxies containing billions of stars that house billions of planets.

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Don´t worry if you have a hard time really understanding these distances, our brain is simply not "designed" for this.

 

[William Levesque]

We would need these I think.

 

[Calum McLure]

My dream is to live in a world like Mass Effect's

I remember reading something a while ago about them finding a new moon orbiting Pluto and I thought "IT'S A MASS RELAY!!!! "

EDIT: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jul/11/moon-pluto-found-hubble-new

 

[Mark Gormley]

Not without an enormous leap in technology and understanding, most of our technology at the moment seems to still rely on the wheel, or fire, or the wheel being propelled by fire.

Chances are we'll go extinct before we establish a presence off-planet. Robots are cheaper, stronger and less likely to die.

 

[H34d5h07]

This may sound very negative and harsh. But I think we have extinct ourselves before we even set a foot on mars.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

This may sound very negative and harsh. But I think we have extinct ourselves before we even set a foot on mars.

That´s actually a concern many scientists have. Some even theorize that there perhaps isn´t any civilisations out there because they all blew themselves up after they reached a certain point.

We´ve got so many nukes in this world we could literally end life many times over.

Michio Kaku said that we are in this do or die period right now. Either we kill ourselves and the planet or we move on to become a Civilization 1.

 

[Miguel Gonzalez]

Until the current models of gravity and electricity are updated we won't make any real progression out into the universe, maybe a small off planet colony with no return trip might be possible but to really get to star trek levels of exploration we have to understand more about the universe and the physics that REALLY govern it.

Modern quantum physics are finding some really interesting phenomena that doesn't work with our current models of understanding.

 

[Bradley Vanian]

Yes.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Nope other species will find us hence we dont need to spend billions on aerospace anymore.

On a serious note, i hope Ill live long enough to witness such a discovery. So curious how mankind and especially all those religious people will respond.

Panic will break out first, people will unite and finally throw of that burden of the imaginary friend in the sky and form one people.

Can't wait!

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Until the current models of gravity and electricity are updated we won't make any real progression out into the universe, maybe a small off planet colony with no return trip might be possible but to really get to star trek levels of exploration we have to understand more about the universe and the physics that REALLY govern it.

Modern quantum physics are finding some really interesting phenomena that doesn't work with our current models of understanding.

Yea the peculiar thing with the laws of physics as we know it is that when you try to describe a black hole, All our physics breaks down.
This is why Quantum Mechanics and M-theory and such exist.

But it´s quite funny how a very good solid system works great unless you introduce a black hole which breaks down the physics completely.

Some say it´s because materialistic science simply do not account for infinity.

 

[Craig Stevenson]

I think we'll be visited long before we get to the stage of seriously searching for other life, OK we've finally got a Rover on Mars but there is a hell of long way to go yet. If the Bankers keep Bankrupting the world every few years there will be no money for space exploration!