On Sun, 7 Jan 2001, Doug Jones wrote:
> Probably- but what would be the point? By the time anyone might be able
> to build space drives that would acheive such huge delta-v, body mod
Don't be so sure, spaceborne self-rep machinery is probably under two
decades away, assuming a R&D program will be begun soon, and
self-replicating photovoltaic-powered solid state phased array devices can
ramp up to a rather ridiculous steerable microwave output within a few
years. Carbon truss cloth sail operating at about 2 kK has been shown to
survive >>1 g, so I presume a small container with a human could see >>1 g
acceleration for weeks, if not months. (How long depends on how well you
can focus and track this power at increasing distances, a large aperture
probably helps -- here's a good use of material from the asteroid belt)
> technology would have outstripped current limitations. It's the same
> old singularity problem.
Given that generation length of a human is ~20 years, will be intensely
frowned upon initially (think about the error rate) I don't see
humanity changing visibly in comparision to tech change rate.
Human modification rate will only pick up if you have invasive
medical nanotechnology, which is many decades away.
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