U.S. Population to hit 1 billion by 2100

[AWMac]

Okay... I just thought of this... if they expect the U.S. poulation to hit 1 billion by 2100 and just 6 Years ago McDonalds was serving 2 billion......

Who the Hell has my fries?

 

Mac

[Mr No Name]

Well, we know where the influx will come from - south of our border (if you can still call it a border)

[SuBWaYCH]

If I live to be 105, i'll see the day.

[FrodeMk3]

     3 times' as many people in the U.S., as now? And how much of that influx is gonna come in straight to Welfare?

You'll have massive civil strife and bloodshed before you hit 700 mill, I'd bet.

[AKIron]

I doubt that.  If we can colonize other bodies, it's safe to bet there's already a space resourcing industry. Any rare materials on those bodies would get mined elsewhere or synthesized/recycled.

I was thinking about plentiful air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, those sorts of resources. Who wants to live in close quarters all their life or in space suit? You've never worn a full chem suit for any length of time if you think you'd be comfortable with that for the rest of your life.

[moot]

Tell that to all the people getting in the astronaut corps to try and get a chance at going out to space.
If I had a chance at making it, I'd ditch my field of study right now to go on the sort of expedition Bill Stone wants to lead to Shackleton crater on the moon, regardless of the risks.  I'd take a chance at working the crappiest job as a miner on asteroids out where the earth is just a spot in the black, or help settle outer space even if it meant wearing those suits, yep.   I'd die happy if I got radiation sickness from a sunflare on the way to wherever.

I doubt we won't adress the clostrophobia problems, there'll be supply for the ample demand for big enough indoor areas. People like Bigelow are already working to get the financial snowball rolling.  The resources out in (e.g.) the asteroid belt make any amount here on earth negligible.  We just need to pay the initial tooling costs.

[FrodeMk3]

Tell that to all the people getting in the astronaut corps to try and get a chance at going out to space.
If I had a chance at making it, I'd ditch my field of study right now to go on the sort of expedition Bill Stone wants to lead to Shackleton crater on the moon, regardless of the risks.  I'd take a chance at working the crappiest job as a miner on asteroids out where the earth is just a spot in the black, or help settle outer space even if it meant wearing those suits, yep.   I'd die happy if I got radiation sickness from a sunflare on the way to wherever.

I doubt we won't adress the clostrophobia problems, there'll be supply for the ample demand for big enough indoor areas. People like Bigelow are already working to get the financial snowball rolling.  The resources out in (e.g.) the asteroid belt make any amount here on earth negligible.  We just need to pay the initial tooling costs.

It'll really break open once you can get your cost-to-orbit down to around one dollar or less a pound. That's the real bottleneck right now; It's too expensive to orbit anything on a commercial basis...Only scientific/military payloads' have been justified so far.

[AKIron]

Space exploration has been glamorized by Hollywood. Sure, what kid didn't/doesn't want to be an astronaut? I certainly did when I was young. The reality of months inside a tin can followed by years on a barren moon or planet without the whole world interested in your every step or word probably won't be much fun or even adventurous once the newness wears off.

I'm not saying we shouldn't seek out new worlds or boldly go where no one has gone before. I just don't think it's going to be much like the movies or comic books.

[moot]

I'm not you Iron. You don't know me nearly enough to do more than assume all that. And no, I don't care about movies.  How stupid do you think I and every other kid with a sense of brass tacks is?

months inside a tin can followed by years on a barren moon or planet without the whole world interested in your every step or word probably won't be much fun or even adventurous once the newness wears off.

Not my perspective at all. You could maroon me on Mars and task me with all the scientific tedium in the world and I'd take it up, yep.
Wait no, I take that back!   I want my TV and politics and soft rolling grass fields and live in an endless bubble of comfort and stagnation!  I don't want to be left on my own to decide my own life    Especialy not on a whole new freakin planet that's all mine to explore!

[Strip]

It'll really break open once you can get your cost-to-orbit down to around one dollar or less a pound.

       I doubt thats even possible without a whole new technology discovery. I cant ship a single piece of paper across town over night for that. When you get it under a 500 dollars a pound you will see real gains. Right now its near the ten thousand mark I believe but that depends on your source and definition. Some new technologies are paving the way for such gains but only time will tell.

Strip

[AKIron]

I've lived in the desert. I didn't find it especially interesting but I think most of the earth's deserts are likely far more interesting than Mars. We have plenty of uninhabited desert on this planet and you won't even need to live in a pressurized suit to enjoy it. Mining H3 on the moon now might be worth the effort if we can produce fusion with it.

[moot]

       I doubt thats even possible without a whole new technology discovery. I cant ship a single piece of paper across town over night for that. When you get it under a 500 dollars a pound you will see real gains. Right now its near the ten thousand mark I believe but that depends on your source and definition. Some new technologies are paving the way for such gains but only time will tell.

Strip

SpaceX's Musk said the SaturnV class rocket they're planning would do about that, 500$/kilo. Assuming that's a typo for /kg rather than /lbs in your post.  Edit- their estimate is 500$/lbs.

Iron, one desert here or there, I'll take the one as far away from everything we know.  I don't see the point in turning down a chance to discover things in a completely new setting.  Once the few pioneers get things mapped and worked out so that the popular colonization industry shows up, all the earthly comforts will probably be cost effective to some acceptable degree for the average joes.. They'll be free to recreate everything they "miss" about Earth.  FWIW though, if they do that I'll move to the next planet. That's all speculation, but that's how I see it.
And there's at least a few other very interesting things to do on the Moon, like radioastronomy on some quiet parts of it..  Manufacturing there will probably have some advantages not found in microgravity in Earth orbits and restricted free space (as opposed to on the ground of the Moon), permanent shade in some craters etc.

Crap.. I mean, it would be like the Shackleton and Columbus expeditions all over again, and you're saying you'd pass that up, or that I would.  No way.

[lazs2]

mg....I guess with man made global warming petering out..   

You need something else 100 years in the future to panic about.

Me.. I am just gonna get into that skycar that we all have had since 1960 and go for a drive.

lazs

[AKIron]

I'd love to go for a visit on the moon and spend a few weeks there. I suspect that when you've seen one moon or mars rock you've seen 'em all though. If there is a hereafter you can bet I'll be wanting to explore a bit more then, perhaps silver surfer style.

[FrodeMk3]

       I doubt thats even possible without a whole new technology discovery. I cant ship a single piece of paper across town over night for that. When you get it under a 500 dollars a pound you will see real gains. Right now its near the ten thousand mark I believe but that depends on your source and definition. Some new technologies are paving the way for such gains but only time will tell.

Strip

That's true. We can't even manage our earth-bound affairs' well enough. My hope is, that we WILL get that technology advance, through space exploration. Maybe workable, safe Hydrogen-fueled fusion thrusters? Who knows...but for certain, businesses' won't be able to get alot of the commodoties' that we currently make here (Iron ore, Nickel, Tungsten and other metals, precious metals' like gold, Zero-gee manufacturing, etc.) unless we make it cheap enough to move it from here to there, without seeing ridiculous prices' on the retail end.