Can mankind adapt to living in the ocean and in space
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Can mankind adapt to living in the ocean and in space

[From: ] [author: ] [Date: 11-10-07] [Hit: ]
Any of these could be lethal to space colonists - and yet...In principle, it is possible to have artificial gravity - in, for example,......
I think some of the answers about space ae unduly pessimistic. Certainly there are challenges involved in living in space. (I, like the others who answered the question, am assuming you mean in deep space, rather than on another planet etc.) These include the lack of gravity, cosmic and solar radiation, space junk (in earth orbit) and meteorites. Any of these could be lethal to space colonists - and yet...

In principle, it is possible to have artificial gravity - in, for example, the spinning wheel type of space station loved by science fiction.

In principle it is possible to shield a space station from radiation, either magnetically or directly (by a thick layer of lead, for example).

In theory, it might be possible to detect, avoid or deflect particles, natural or man-made, which threatened the integrity o the space station.

I can't actually see anything which would make colonising space impossible - but I can see plenty that makes it prohibitively expensive. Just look at how much the US and former USSR had to scale back their space ambitions because of cost. We have the technology to do all sorts of amazing things - but some of them are simply not worth the candle. Who is going to put up the necessary cash, and why?

In science fiction, the favourite answer is 'to avoid some sort of catastrophe on earth'. But that would involve the following slightly unlikely events:

1 Identifying the highly plausible threat of catastrophe far enough in advance (and that means decades not years).

2 Agreeing that everyone should pay up an absolute fortune to provide safe refuge in space for a handful of people.

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Over millenia perhaps, but the chances are so low you might as well say no. Living in space, in a gravity-less environment, muscle is less needed and so atrophy of muscle and death are more likely than adaptation for that environment (since our entire evolution has been solely on land and with gravity, we would not adapt well (or at all) to such radically different environments). Evolution happens with a gradual (ok, sometimes staggered) change in environment. Such a drastic change would be most likely met with human extinction.

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He would have a better chance of living in the ocean as living in space his muscles waste, he looses calcium from his bones and therefore skeletal decline etc. Check with NASA and see the medical reports on Astronauts about their health decline after long periods in space.

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Ocean probably not space we do not fully understand space as we claim to do

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Not possible
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