Once you're on a starship with just enough fuel to reach the destination, the only real question is what the political organization will be at the end.
Not if those are the only two known destinations known to support life! Then the choice is binary really - go to destination or go back.
> And the first generation of people born in the starship won't exactly be yearning for an Earth they've never known.
I think they would. I've seen this in second generation immigrants. One would expect they'd completely embrace the new country, culture, environment, but I often see them idealizing or yearning for some mythical version of their old country, even if the parents have already adapted and moved on in the current culture. There are two mechanisms at work there, I think, one is rebellion against the old generation, and also if things are not going perfectly well, yearning for an alternative ("the grass is always greener on the other planet" principle).
> I often see them idealizing or yearning for some mythical version of their old country, even if the parents have already adapted and moved on in the current culture.
New cultures: US and Western Europe. Old cultures/countries: Middle East, Eastern Europe.
"Ah! It's good to be awake, Chat! Turn on the outside view so I can see where we are!"
display turns on.. nothing but space to be seen
"Uh, Chat, we seem to be in the wrong place. I can't see the planet we were traveling to!"
....
ChatGPT: "You're absolutely right!"
Absolutely worth your time — my only frustration was that I was done reading them so quickly.
Only slightly joking. The best way to do this is to either ensure you have a scientific culture that can dedicate itself to a very distant goal, or you make it a religion and keep the intermediate generations complacent.
That's an interesting point. I have noticed that often ideologically motivated parents don't always produce the same ideologically motivated offspring. They'll have to have very strict rules and some kind of brutal indoctrination to ensure the next generation follows the same path. But the more brutal and severe it is, the more likely it will cause rebellions.
I can already see a tragi-comedic scenario: the new generation overthrows the old guard, slams on the brakes, ship takes years to slow down from almost light speed. Decades later they are finally going back to earth at full speed. Now the next generation looks back at the mess their parents made, rebel, overthrow the old guard, slam on the brakes, decades later they are back flying to the original destination. But not until the next generation decides to bring back the fire of the revolution and turn things around... It all ends with them running out of fuel.
The pessimistic view is that we'll just have to let ChatGPT drive the ship and knock everyone out in cryosleep so they don't mess with the ship.