Humanity's Limits

[Fisher321]

Alright, if Humanity as a whole got rid of all its political, social, and economic boundaries and actually worked together in peace, how far could we reach?

Do you think we could possibly create colonies on distant planets today if we worked together? Could we find a cure for cancer? What are our real limits?

I believe the only thing stopping us from exploring the galaxy is each other. (obviously) If we combined forces imagine the great advances we could make in every field.

So I'm asking you guys, how far could we go within the next 30 years if we all worked together? Or how far do you think we would be if we made this decision several hundred years ago? And that begs another question, could humanity actually unite itself in this way?


Edit : No I do not believe this will ever happen. And yes I do believe conflict/competition is what drives human engineering. I'm basically asking within the next 30 years, if we had unlimited funding, how far could we go?

 

[felbot]

wed be practically unlimited until well find any other species, at that point wed either enslave them and exploit them for gain or ally them, alternatively they would kill us and wed be pretty damn limited.

 

[Esotera]

I'd say the laws of the universe are the only big constraints that would prevent us from expanding across the whole galaxy, and probably any rival civilizations.

The most plausible scenario for colonisation is multi-generation starships that send humans to other celestial bodies, where they then settle & produce more starships. Also as planets that aren't bound to any star are quite common, it might be possible to use those as spaceships.

In 30 years, we could get a small colony on Mars, possibly...colonisation is going to take a very long time, as the galaxy is a very big place.

 

[Keoul]

In 30 years I'd say we'd have fully fledged Iron man suits.
You got japan already creating a mechanic exoskeleton for construction workers and the americans making one for warfare, add em together and we got sleek, efficient killing machines.
Then we'd go right on back to fighting each other and giving each other the cold shoulder. Or maybe space travel to find someone else to pick a fight with who knows?

Captcha: down-ward slope
Seriously the captcha is freaking me out, how are they all so relevant!?

 

[Shock and Awe]

If humanity suddenly said "fuck fighting each other lets do cool shit" I cannot fathom what we'd do. We'd be on Mars in less then 30 years and have FTL in a century.

 

[twistedmic]

If all of mankind stopped fighting, I can see interstellar travel becoming a reality within two centruies. Though the direction of our tech would depend on why we stopped fighting each other.
If we just decided to stop fighting and live in harmony, our space exploration and planetary colonization would be geared more towards scientific pursuits and for exploration's sake (in addition to more living space and resources). We'd most likely end up like the Federation from Star Trek in that case.

However, if mankind stops fighting themselves due to an alien invasion, or the discovery of an aggressive/violent alien civilization, our tech would take a more militaristic path and we'd probably end up like the Klingon Empire (Star Trek) or the Galactic Empire (Star Wars). Either way, mankind would become the Bogey Man of the Galaxy/Universe.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Also as planets that aren't bound to any star are quite common, it might be possible to use those as spaceships.

Er, what?

Anyway, yeah, colony on Mars wouldn't be beyond our reach...but there'd be no reason for it yet. I daresay the US could have put people on Mars by now if they'd really wanted it, but there was no reason to justify the massive expense.

 

[Zhukov]

It's impossible to say since we don't yet know the limits of what is possible.

However, we'd presumably be in a better position to find out.

 

[Naeras]

The only limit I can think of would be actual immortality. Not biological immortality, mind you, as there already exist examples of fairly complex organisms that aren't affected by age. However, actual immortality would mean that we'd be immune to firearms, toxins, cancer and meteor strikes, which is.. kind of hard to do, I guess. And on a long enough timescale, you're bound to get one of those meteors in the face.

Other than that, the imagination is the only limit. Because fuck the laws of physics.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

If humanity suddenly said "fuck fighting each other lets do cool shit" I cannot fathom what we'd do. We'd be on Mars in less then 30 years and have FTL in a century.

Oh please, we'd have a decent sized colony on Mars in 10.

snip

In 30 years we;d probably have ships off searching other solar systems and a couple planets might even be colonized even if only for mining. Cancer we'd have cured in a month, and have it distributed internationally in two.

What would it take to do this though? I think we need a dictator, not one of those "all hail me" dictators, I mean someone who puts a stop to violence and corruption. Basically what we need is a king from the fairy tales. most leaders today are corrupt, we need someone who will sacrifice their life for the people and carry the world on their back.

Then again religion would have to take a pretty big hit. Seeing as the deeply religious are all afraid of anything outside the mentionings of their shitty texts, so they'd fight tooth and nail and have a cry about it, but we could get rid of them eventually.

 

[madster11]

Alright, if Humanity as a whole got rid of all its political, social, and economic boundaries and actually worked together in peace, how far could we reach?

Within 50 years: Fully powered exosuits, probes in alpha centauri, permanent bases on the moon and mars, asteroid mining, probe either at or on the way to Sirius A/B, nuclear power, electric cars, next-gen passanger jets run scramjets, etc.

 

[Thaluikhain]

If anything a moon colony would come well before a mars colony considering the abundant Helium 3 that could be used for fuel there, and even that isnt worth the expense at the moment.

Oh, sure, no argument there. But moonbases aren't exciting anymore, has to be Mars for some reason.

...

Oh, and for the people claiming we'd have FTL in 30 or 100 years, we don't know if FTL will ever be possible. There's no way you can put a timescale on something like that.

 

[Olas]

If humanity suddenly said "fuck fighting each other lets do cool shit" I cannot fathom what we'd do. We'd be on Mars in less then 30 years and have FTL in a century.

Or not, because in all likelyhood FTL travel is impossible. Still though, we could at least fully inhabit the vast, unimaginable reaches of this solar system.

Also, lots of people would die. As fundamentally hazardous as space is there's no way we could start venturing out into it regularly without expecting enormous death tolls. It's just one of the many, many, many huge sacrifices we'd have to make as a species to make OP's vision a reality.

 

[JagermanXcell]

For one thing building a source of unlimited energy and free gas would be a typical Tuesday.
And it should probably take us less then 5 years to finish building a space colony on the moon with all the man power.
But to think what we could do if we were united for 30 years, my dream of jet pack surfing around Mars would be a reality!

A shame that whole united thing won't be happening for a while. Considering we are so willing to kill each other because "They don't like what we like, lets shoot them!" mentality is all the rage these days.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

However, if mankind stops fighting themselves due to an alien invasion, or the discovery of an aggressive/violent alien civilization, our tech would take a more militaristic path and we'd probably end up like the Klingon Empire (Star Trek) or the Galactic Empire (Star Wars). Either way, mankind would become the Bogey Man of the Galaxy/Universe.

I'm going to go with the empire on this one, those klingon blades be silly indeed.

personally, I think it is possible for mankind to live in peace like that, but it's going to take some drastic event to make it happen, either something terrible and/or groundbreaking.
Not to mention a change in our political and economic structures, competition breeds conflict after all.

and after all that is over, maybe we'd be the first space-faring civilization, I think that'd be cool.

We get to be all snobby and shit on the intergalactic council.^^

 

[Syzygy23]

I'd say the laws of the universe are the only big constraints that would prevent us from expanding across the whole galaxy, and probably any rival civilizations.

The most plausible scenario for colonisation is multi-generation starships that send humans to other celestial bodies, where they then settle & produce more starships. Also as planets that aren't bound to any star are quite common, it might be possible to use those as spaceships.

In 30 years, we could get a small colony on Mars, possibly...colonisation is going to take a very long time, as the galaxy is a very big place.

http://www.space.com/17628-warp-drive-possible-interstellar-spaceflight.html

Where have you BEEN? Apparently Star Trek was right all along.

Ha ha, "multi-generational starship". That's the lamest form of interstellar travel I've ever heard of!

If humanity suddenly said "fuck fighting each other lets do cool shit" I cannot fathom what we'd do. We'd be on Mars in less then 30 years and have FTL in a century.

Or not, because in all likelyhood FTL travel is impossible. Still though, we could at least fully inhabit the vast, unimaginable reaches of this solar system.

Also, lots of people would die. As fundamentally hazardous as space is there's no way we could start venturing out into it regularly without expecting enormous death tolls. It's just one of the many, many, many huge sacrifices we'd have to make as a species to make OP's vision a reality.

What is with you people and this incredibly bleak, defeatist attitude towards FTL? The laws of physics are exactly that: laws. And what do we do with laws? Obey, bend or break them.

 

[Friendly Lich]

If we colonize mars its almost inevitable it will ask or fight for independence. A majority of colonies throughout history have done this. It could be the rise of the first space marines.

 

[Esotera]

Also as planets that aren't bound to any star are quite common, it might be possible to use those as spaceships.

Er, what?

Anyway, yeah, colony on Mars wouldn't be beyond our reach...but there'd be no reason for it yet. I daresay the US could have put people on Mars by now if they'd really wanted it, but there was no reason to justify the massive expense.

I've forgotten the actual name of the planet type (or whether it even has one), but essentially they don't orbit a star, and they just fly around the universe going at pretty much whatever direction they feel like. It would take some advanced tech and a lot of luck to find one that has the right position and environment, but if humanity did hitch a ride on one, it'd essentially turn the whole world into a spaceship as it's moving in one direction.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/11/17/homeless-planet-found-wandering-near-earths-solar-system/