Timeline for How much time is needed to judge an Earth-like planet to be safe?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
30 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 28 at 7:49 | comment | added | Tim Campion | On the one hand there are concrete scientific questions here about the diversity of exoplanets, and nobody knows the answers to these questions, that’s up to you to decide for your world. Just as relevant is how your colonists think about and relate to these risks. In this vein, one relevant question is just how familiar is your civilization with the processes of exploring and of settling planets. If it’s been done hundreds of times before then their risk management philosophy will probably be very different compared to if they’re among the first. | |
| Jun 24 at 12:27 | history | protected | Monty Wild♦ | ||
| Jun 21 at 12:20 | comment | added | Gillgamesh | @vsz No disagreement, risk/reward/culture. | |
| Jun 21 at 11:22 | answer | added | mcv | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jun 21 at 8:58 | comment | added | vsz | @Gillgamesh We are much more risk-averse now. At the start of the Age of Exploration, the first circumnavigation of the planet had a 90% death toll, yet it was a successful mission. People did get on voyages while knowing they have less than 1/2 chance of survival, for centuries. Many colonization missions had extreme death tolls due to disease and starvation and wars, yet they as survived as nations to the present day. Maybe if the stakes are higher (mankind getting a second chance, versus bragging to have visited a new place), then loss tolerance will increase too. | |
| Jun 21 at 3:53 | comment | added | Jedediah | Relevant to consider - are there alternatives? That is, do they have the fuel / an alternative destination, can they establish space colonies if they have to, or is it "make it work or die in orbit"? It's safe enough right now if it's "make it work or die in orbit". | |
| Jun 21 at 2:48 | answer | added | Rocky Rococo | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jun 20 at 14:14 | comment | added | RonJohn | Anyway, unexpected natural disasters reminds me of Dragonriders of Pern. | |
| Jun 20 at 14:13 | comment | added | RonJohn | "Whether limnic eruptions are a common thing with bodies of water on this planet". Don't place your colony (6,000 people is pretty darned small) near a volcano, and you're all set. But where are the volcanoes? If you have the technology for interstellar travel, you can handwave detecting plate tectonics. | |
| Jun 20 at 9:43 | comment | added | François Jurain | Frank Herbert suggested an additional degree of freedom in Destination: Void and sequel. Decree that human clones are non-human and you've got the perfect simulation tool for safety tests. In addition to the perfect organ farm. | |
| Jun 20 at 6:28 | answer | added | Vesper | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 20 at 3:11 | history | edited | Tom | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
fixed weird text wrapping in final list items
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| Jun 20 at 0:06 | comment | added | Pelinore | To add to what @Gillgamesh said how long depends entirely on how much tech and resources you want to throw at determining if it's "safe" .. you might just drop some people on it and come back a few generations later to see if they survived and if they grew their population and just call it "safe enough" if the answer is yes to both. | |
| Jun 19 at 20:28 | comment | added | Simon Crase | How long have we lived on this planet? Do you consider that it is safe? Is it getting safer, or less safe? If you can answer these questions, you may be able to answer your own question. | |
| Jun 19 at 17:41 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Jun 19 at 16:51 | answer | added | Nepene Nep | timeline score: 6 | |
| Jun 19 at 15:49 | answer | added | JBH | timeline score: 24 | |
| Jun 19 at 15:44 | answer | added | o.m. | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jun 19 at 14:24 | answer | added | Menno van Lavieren | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jun 19 at 13:27 | answer | added | William Walker III | timeline score: 11 | |
| Jun 19 at 13:11 | comment | added | KerrAvon2055 | Consider the question "At what point since COVID was detected was it 'safe' to stop routinely wearing masks and imposing mandatory quarantines?" There are still people dying from COVID, yet most governments have lifted most restrictions. Some people are still self-isolating as much as they can, others ignore the risk completely. The decision for each government and individual is different at different points in time based on perceived and relative risk, which makes this type of question practically impossible to answer - it depends on the characters in your story. | |
| Jun 19 at 12:55 | comment | added | Gillgamesh | for context: "Most of the emigrants on the Oregon Trail survived the trip. Between four and six percent of the emigrants died along the way - between 12,500 and 20,000 people. This is about one grave for every 200 yards of trail (the length of two football fields). Most of those who died were either children or elderly people." Doesn't sound safe but they pushed ahead. | |
| Jun 19 at 12:50 | answer | added | Mary | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 19 at 12:30 | comment | added | Gillgamesh | Interesting question. But "Safe" is very grey. For the colony to be successful they only need to precreate faster than the planet can kill them. | |
| Jun 19 at 12:04 | answer | added | Richard Kirk | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jun 19 at 10:55 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jun 20 at 18:20 | |||||
| Jun 19 at 9:58 | comment | added | Starfish Prime | Relevant, and possible duplicate: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/165600/62341 (I won't flag it as a duplicate myself cos this question will be closed immediately, so I'll leave it for others to decide). | |
| Jun 19 at 9:53 | history | edited | user73910 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
edited title
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| Jun 19 at 9:47 | history | edited | user73910 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 103 characters in body
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| Jun 19 at 9:41 | history | asked | user73910 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |