Obama's 2nd Inaugural Address

[houndawg]

Hell, I expect us to be travelling through space at near light-speed in 200 years (we have designs that work right now but cost too much to build...sounds familiar to certain renewable energies). With how quickly technology is advancing (it's kept true to a model projection made in the 1950s showing we'll reach singularity this century), it'd be downright pathetic if the entire human race is still relying on fossil fuels 200 years from now, and a bit sad if the developed world is relying on them in 100 years.

Near light-speed? Do tell.

[mrklean]

Hell, I expect us to be travelling through space at near light-speed in 200 years (we have designs that work right now but cost too much to build...sounds familiar to certain renewable energies). With how quickly technology is advancing (it's kept true to a model projection made in the 1950s showing we'll reach singularity this century), it'd be downright pathetic if the entire human race is still relying on fossil fuels 200 years from now, and a bit sad if the developed world is relying on them in 100 years.

Light speed?? Hey lets start with a V-8 that can get 30MPG. IJS!

[Baldy]

So it looks like he covered every group but straight, white, Christian males born in the United States.

Good thing I'm not one of those poor bastards.

Wait, what? Oh shit.

Sounded like a "moderate conservative". Reaganesque...even.

Right, kalm?

[89Hen]

Fact: The world CAN live without fossil fuels. Fat, lazy, soft, over-consumptive Americans may not.

Yeah, I see China weening themselves off of it. Look, they ride bikes afterall.


Why do you hate America?

[∞∞∞]

Hell, I expect us to be travelling through space at near light-speed in 200 years (we have designs that work right now but cost too much to build...sounds familiar to certain renewable energies). With how quickly technology is advancing (it's kept true to a model projection made in the 1950s showing we'll reach singularity this century), it'd be downright pathetic if the entire human race is still relying on fossil fuels 200 years from now, and a bit sad if the developed world is relying on them in 100 years.

Near light-speed? Do tell.

Project Orion in the 50s and 60s was set to go (10% of light speed...29,979,245.8 m/s) until the treaty to not use nuclear explosions in space was signed. The Bussard ramjet (and it's variations) is probably the closest thing to a working design we have, but the problem is that it has to be immensely large (aka. expensive) to be able to scoop up all the hydrogen atoms scattered in space to make energy.

Another issue with interstellar travel is obviously time. While someone travelling near-light speed can circle the known universe in ~60 years of their time, Earth would be long gone when they got back. Even if people got to Alfa Centauri (a couple of days in their time), anyone they knew would be long dead when they got back. So unless you're thinking of the long-term, like really long-term implications, it doesn't make any short-term scientific or economic sense. But if the human race is to survive, we're going to have to colonize space and we're going to need interstellar spaceships to do it.

I also think that we'll do it within 200 years 'cause our technological advancement has grown exponentially and is slated to reach, this century, a kind of point in which it begins to exceed what humans can imagine all by itself (think artificial intelligence building upon itself).

Regardless, the point is to not restrain our imaginations. When you believe you can't do something, then you can't do it. Eventually, we'll have the means to dream big and back it up.

[AZGrizFan]

He hasn't done anything about jobs either. Which comes first, climate change or jobs?

Asleep at the wheel I see. It's ok, I forgive you.

What I am expecting from him is at least an attempt at another Kyoto Protocol. Capping emissions has to be a world event, not just the U.S.

Like China and India give a flying fuck about "emissions".

[kalm]

Fact: The world CAN live without fossil fuels. Fat, lazy, soft, over-consumptive Americans may not.

Yeah, I see China weening themselves off of it. Look, they ride bikes afterall.


Why do you hate America?

I didn't say it would happen today or that it would be pleasant if and when it does. But the planet can survive without fossil fuels. No?

[89Hen]

Yeah, I see China weening themselves off of it. Look, they ride bikes afterall.


Why do you hate America?

I didn't say it would happen today or that it would be pleasant if and when it does. But the planet can survive without fossil fuels. No?

You implied everyone except the US could. If/when the day comes, the US will not be the last one standing. You can bet your ass that China and Russia will be more stubborn than the US.

[D1B]

I didn't say it would happen today or that it would be pleasant if and when it does. But the planet can survive without fossil fuels. No?

You implied everyone except the US could. If/when the day comes, the US will not be the last one standing. You can bet your ass that China and Russia will be more stubborn than the US.

Agree, but China and Russia will be changing soon. They will be torn apart by revolution and civil war soon.

[89Hen]

You implied everyone except the US could. If/when the day comes, the US will not be the last one standing. You can bet your ass that China and Russia will be more stubborn than the US.

Agree, but China and Russia will be changing soon. They will be torn apart by revolution and civil war soon.

A Chinese revolution would be ugly. Tens of millions dead.

[andy7171]

Another issue with interstellar travel is obviously time. While someone travelling near-light speed can circle the known universe in ~60 years of their time, Earth would be long gone when they got back. Even if people got to Alfa Centauri (a couple of days in their time), anyone they knew would be long dead when they got back.

Say what!?!

[Grizalltheway]

Another issue with interstellar travel is obviously time. While someone travelling near-light speed can circle the known universe in ~60 years of their time, Earth would be long gone when they got back. Even if people got to Alfa Centauri (a couple of days in their time), anyone they knew would be long dead when they got back.

Say what!?!

Theory of Relatively. Time slows down the closer you get to light speed.

[∞∞∞]

Another issue with interstellar travel is obviously time. While someone travelling near-light speed can circle the known universe in ~60 years of their time, Earth would be long gone when they got back. Even if people got to Alfa Centauri (a couple of days in their time), anyone they knew would be long dead when they got back.

Say what!?!

Both biological and mechanical clocks slow down the faster you go relative to another position. It's called time dilation and it's a nature of space-time (and has been experimentally confirmed).

[andy7171]

Hold up now. How long does it take to go 1 day at light speed? Not 1 day?

[CID1990]

You implied everyone except the US could. If/when the day comes, the US will not be the last one standing. You can bet your ass that China and Russia will be more stubborn than the US.

Agree, but China and Russia will be changing soon. They will be torn apart by revolution and civil war soon.

Russia? Maybe.

But China- it won't happen. Too many Western political scientists, economists, etc fall into the trap of looking at Chinese (or any Confucian Asian cultures for that matter) through European-colored glasses. China might have an upheaval, but it will not be the kind of revolution we envision. When things begin to grind down in China, they will go nationalist, and God help us all when that happens.

[GannonFan]

Hold up now. How long does it take to go 1 day at light speed? Not 1 day?

From what reference point, the person travelling at light speed or the person just standing still?

[Vidav]

Hold up now. How long does it take to go 1 day at light speed? Not 1 day?

The person moving at light speed would experience 24 hours of travel. But during that time the people on Earth would experience much more than 24 hours. I don't know the numbers though. Trip?

[93henfan]

Hold up now. How long does it take to go 1 day at light speed? Not 1 day?

For the traveler, 1 day. For the person staying behind, longer.

[∞∞∞]

Hold up now. How long does it take to go 1 day at light speed? Not 1 day?

If someone set-off in a spaceship right now at light speed and returned tomorrow at this time, the trip for the traveler would have taken a couple of seconds.

If I recall correctly, it would take someone traveling to Alfa Centuari (the closest star to the Sun) and back 8 days in their time, in which 200 years would have passed here on Earth. So I guess a day for the traveler would probably be close to a quarter-century for us.

edit: I'm dumb. It would take about 9 years in our time for someone to get to Alfa Centauri and back...not 200...and about 20 minutes for that person...not 8 days. So one day in a light-speed travelling spaceship is about 648 years here on Earth! .

It takes 60 years for someone travelling at the speed of light to circle the known universe. When they got back to Earth, 139 million years would have passed...so Earth would still be around, and maybe even humans. Talk about a long-term scientific mission.

[UNI88]

Agree, but China and Russia will be changing soon. They will be torn apart by revolution and civil war soon.

Russia? Maybe.

But China- it won't happen. Too many Western political scientists, economists, etc fall into the trap of looking at Chinese (or any Confucian Asian cultures for that matter) through European-colored glasses. China might have an upheaval, but it will not be the kind of revolution we envision. When things begin to grind down in China, they will go nationalist, and God help us all when that happens.

I just finished The Next Decade by George Friedman. I don't agree with everything he writes but has some interesting opinions about China and Russia. He thinks Russia is a greater long-term threat to the US than China and that China will experience a significant slow-down. Historically during such down-times, China tends to become very inwardly focused (and nationalistic) and their productivity and standard of living drops.

[Pwns]

Near light-speed? Do tell.

Project Orion in the 50s and 60s was set to go (10% of light speed...29,979,245.8 m/s) until the treaty to not use nuclear explosions in space was signed. The Bussard ramjet (and it's variations) is probably the closest thing to a working design we have, but the problem is that it has to be immensely large (aka. expensive) to be able to scoop up all the hydrogen atoms scattered in space to make energy.

Another issue with interstellar travel is obviously time. While someone travelling near-light speed can circle the known universe in ~60 years of their time, Earth would be long gone when they got back. Even if people got to Alfa Centauri (a couple of days in their time), anyone they knew would be long dead when they got back. So unless you're thinking of the long-term, like really long-term implications, it doesn't make any short-term scientific or economic sense. But if the human race is to survive, we're going to have to colonize space and we're going to need interstellar spaceships to do it.

I also think that we'll do it within 200 years 'cause our technological advancement has grown exponentially and is slated to reach, this century, a kind of point in which it begins to exceed what humans can imagine all by itself (think artificial intelligence building upon itself).

Regardless, the point is to not restrain our imaginations. When you believe you can't do something, then you can't do it. Eventually, we'll have the means to dream big and back it up.

If there was going to be a singularity we would've reached it by now.

If you can't replicate human cognition with computers that can do a million billion FLOPS and sensors that are way more sensitive any living thing's sensory organs, it's never going to happen.

[∞∞∞]

[If there was going to be a singularity we would've reached it by now.

Why? Some models see us reaching it as early as 2025, but most by the mid-century. Even a decade ago, there was no scientific reason to think we should have reached it by 2013.

And even if our technology never replicates the human mind (and I have doubts myself), it's still advancing exponentially at a blistering pace. If we don't destroy ourselves, we'll be achieving some mind-boggling things in the near-future regardless of singularity.

[Ivytalk]

That so-called "poem" at the inaugural absolutely sucked.

[93henfan]

That so-called "poem" at the inaugural absolutely sucked.

Racist.

[CID1990]

Russia? Maybe.

But China- it won't happen. Too many Western political scientists, economists, etc fall into the trap of looking at Chinese (or any Confucian Asian cultures for that matter) through European-colored glasses. China might have an upheaval, but it will not be the kind of revolution we envision. When things begin to grind down in China, they will go nationalist, and God help us all when that happens.

I just finished The Next Decade by George Friedman. I don't agree with everything he writes but has some interesting opinions about China and Russia. He thinks Russia is a greater long-term threat to the US than China and that China will experience a significant slow-down. Historically during such down-times, China tends to become very inwardly focused (and nationalistic) and their productivity and standard of living drops.

Russia is definitely our biggest geopolitical rival right now, but they cannot break out of the brute force paradigm that has shaped their military doctrine since WWII. As such, they will not make friends in Western Europe the way they would need to in order to be a true military threat to us. The Ukrainians and every other former Warsaw Pact country literally hates their guts. Without strong allies, the Russians will not even become as much of a threat as they were in the 60s.

Where they can hurt us is in playing spoiler to our foreign policy aims. A good example of this is with what is happening right now in Syria. The Russians will not let their spheres of influence shrink without a struggle.