Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition

Re:Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition by qingcharles on Wednesday August 06, 2025 @10:19PM (#44819921)

Adding to the issue that it is relative pointless (IMO) to send meat popsicles all that way when a robot can make the journey about a million times easier and just send us some postcards.

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but it's kinda boring out there. We'd certainly not want to make the trek until the robots had scoured the galaxy looking for a fun place to visit. And by that time we'll all be living in some post-Singularity holodeck and won't give a hoot about some empty rock 600 light years away.

Send the bots. I'll watch the highlight reel from my pod.

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Re:Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition by philistine on Thursday August 07, 2025 @01:40AM (#44820971)

Said like a true citizen of the Culture. And I mean that as a compliment!

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Re:Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition by arethuza on Thursday August 07, 2025 @05:21AM (#44822345)

My own view is that the most likely form of interstellar travel will be something like that used in Greg Egan's Diaspora - with upload communities sending themselves in relatively small ships and choosing whether to experience the journey or not.

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Re:Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition by lanfeust6 on Thursday August 07, 2025 @09:49AM (#44824438)

I expect a kind of leapfrogging. Scout ahead, build a gate and/or infrastructure/terraforming, then a small fraction will decide it's worth migrating. Repeat.

Expansion will only go as quickly as travel time allows. Even the speed of light seems insufficient beyond a certain point. We will want to manipulate space.

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