Q&A 72: Escaping an Extinction Event and More...
In this week's questions show, I wonder how well we'll be able to survive various extinction scenarios, can mobile apps help you learn the night sky? What would we do if Tunguska happened today? And more...
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Comments (3)
Hi Fraser, In reference to Fermi's Paradox, you mention that an advanced civilization could explore and "colonize" the galaxy with self-replicating robots in a relatively (galacticly speaking) short time. And you mentioned that we would be able to reach this stage in a few hundred to a thousand years. But I wonder what is the impetus behind the effort to send robots throughout the galaxy? It'll take robots hundreds or thousands of years to make the journey as they go further out and to what end for us humans?
At the very least, we could send a couple of robots out into the galaxy and they could start exploring and mapping it out and sending their results back home. As we develop better technologies, we could transmit them to the probes so they can make improved versions of themselves.
Interesting explanation about the total angular momentum conservation in the Earth-Moon system. Never thought about that.