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this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2026
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I still think O'Neill was probably right, we could do this if we decided we needed or wanted to bad enough. There's issues to figure out, but that's just science. I got hooked on the idea of space colonization when as a kid in the 70s reading an article in a National Geographic issue exploring the idea, using a fictional opener of someone writing back home about living on one. They used some of Davis' works there.
I think the issue for space colonization is there's no real practical reason to do it beyond that it's cool and interesting. There's still absolutely tons of largely unused land in deserts, polar climates, and even the ocean that are far more accessible and habitable than space is.
Due to low gravity and few pathogens, it might be something people will do for retirement. You can probably expand the time of healthy active years well into your 80/90ties that way.
Maybe... or would your body simply rot away faster since you aren't using it as much? I would be inclined to think the latter.
I suspect they'd need to do some power lifting to avoid accelerated osteoporosis in the lower gravity, as the bones do indeed require to be put under strain and shock to stay healthy.
Depends on how active you are and how low the gravity is. A lower gravity like on Mars would be probably be more helpful than harmful for elderly people.
Even with the technological issues of space colonization solved, how long before the unsolved social issues cause it to come crashing down?
Given the way society is currently set up, if we pursue space colonization then it'll become a luxury for billionaires to escape an unlivable planet. Worse, the hoards of the capital will have even less desires to fix things.
(This is not some doomer or accelerationist take, just hating on billionaires.)
This is my assumption about what's likely to occur as well. And a song about it: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Mars for the Rich