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2old4acoolname t1_j227sjj wrote

Reply to comment by Lyb0n in I have a question about generational ships. by bigmikemcbeth756

Technically, the generational ship would leave with you in it. Then your great, great, great, great grand children would land where we had already colonized due to better tech. That said, the only practical use for a generational ship is to send it out with no intention of landing anywhere for long. Which would require the tech to make what you need along the way from whatever you find.

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bigmikemcbeth756 OP t1_j2297rn wrote

I have nothing going on and nothing to lose I'm willing to go

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MantaurStampede t1_j22nt2y wrote

Do you think that makes you a good candidate? LOL.

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bigmikemcbeth756 OP t1_j22yfiw wrote

Only people like me would volunteer you're literally not gonna ever be see your family again

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sevenwheel t1_j2303jw wrote

People have been doing this forever - not so different from getting on a sailing ship 200+ years ago and leaving to start a colony on a new continent. Your shipmates become your new family, and everyone else is left behind forever. Lots of people did that.

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2old4acoolname t1_j23vjn6 wrote

That’s not a good comparison, sailing, to space travel. The distances are orders of magnitude different. A sailor could leave harbor and arrive somewhere within their lifetime, and have enough of it left to set up shop and build some kind of life. With current propulsion technology you could leave earth today and not arrive at our closest neighboring solar system (Alpha Centauri) in 372 generations (assuming EVERYONE lived to 100 in every generation). That’s 37,200 years one way. Think about it this way, the humans that left on a generation ship for Alpha Centauri, would leave humans, and very possibly arrive as a different branch in our developmental tree. That’s how much time it would take without some super luminal propulsion.

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SuperRette t1_j23956i wrote

Typically, the only people who got onboard with American colonization wanted to get rich, had nothing left to lose, were convicts so didn't have a choice, or were actively facing persecution back home.

Not really people one would want to pick for a generational ship.

And comparing colonization of the Americas to a generational ship is disingenuous. It was still possible for them to come back home. They even maintained allegiances and contact with the homeland. The reason colonization even kicked off after the initial successful colonies, was for economic exploitation; something that won't be possible with generational ships.

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