Mental Exercise - Colonizing a distant planet

[Nithin]

The govt of earth has discovered a distant planet identical to earth - Earth II - a few hundred light years away. As minister of colonization, your task is to come up with a detailed plan to colonize and populate the planet and bring it to the same state of industrial development as Earth currently is. This will most likely not occur during your lifetime but your plan should specify how it should be done. Some of the limitations are

1. Your ships dont have enough space to take any machinery except computers on which you have all knowledge of the entire human race. History, Industry, Engergy everything.
2. You are able to take 1 million people with you. You need to choose who to take i.e. what kind of expertise.
3. It's going to be a one-way one-time trip. You will not get any more resources from Earth I.
4. For simplicity Earth II is identical to the current Earth in every way.


You have to start from the Stone Age except you know what the progression on earth was. List your plan and what you would accomplish in each step. Maybe each step could be a 5 yr plan or similar depending on your requirements. How many years would you need to reach today's technology level?


Nithin.

 

[gorobei]

shouldnt take that long.

initial gimmes: (all you need is fire and dirt) -> next stage
clay/ceramics -> housing, pottery, glass -> chemistry storage
iron and steel -> infrastructure, magnets -> (add copperwire) em motor
copper/bronze -> wire and basic electrical -> analog circuits

the bigger issue will probably be refining the more exotic elements into large useful quantities. assuming you allow them to take dna samples, bio engineered bacteria and algae could get a lot of bulk chemical precursors.

 

[sjwaste]

shouldnt take that long.

initial gimmes: (all you need is fire and dirt) -> next stage
clay/ceramics -> housing, pottery, glass -> chemistry storage
iron and steel -> infrastructure, magnets -> (add copperwire) em motor
copper/bronze -> wire and basic electrical -> analog circuits

the bigger issue will probably be refining the more exotic elements into large useful quantities. assuming you allow them to take dna samples, bio engineered bacteria and algae could get a lot of bulk chemical precursors.

RESEARCH MONARCHY TO GET THE FRIGGIN' WINE!

Is that where we were going?

 

[gorobei]

Is that where we were going?

not exactly. knowing how to make an integrated circuit or radio tower is useless unless you have the required materials in enough quantity. like having a recipe without any ingredients. clay, iron and copper ore, coal tar, hemp fiber are all easily acquired without much advanced processing. with heat and earthen furnaces, you can get the next stage within a year. once you have electricity and chemicals, the only question is how long will it take to be producing them in significant quantity.

anyways, wine is for chumps. the real prizes are library at alexandria and colosus at rhodes, only way to get ironclads when everyone else is on frigates.

 

[A5]

Find the oil, claim it, and wait for the industrial era so you get really rich.

Seriously, I think one of the first things would be to find some iron and then continuously refine it (heat it in fire -> use new metal to make better heater -> heat metal -> and on and on until -> steel) to get something useful. Even with only basic raw materials, you're essentially starting with Renaissance-level abilities and tech, but I think you could have a pretty modern civilization running within 100 years.

Kind of silly that you have room for 1 million people and no machinery, though . I'd rather have 500K people and machinery.

 

[C1]

The effort should be outsourced to residents of beta CVn (Sun-like star 26 light-years away)
http://www.themoneytimes.com/articl..._most_likely_stars_to_host_life-id-10350.html

 

[sjwaste]

shouldnt take that long.

initial gimmes: (all you need is fire and dirt) -> next stage
clay/ceramics -> housing, pottery, glass -> chemistry storage
iron and steel -> infrastructure, magnets -> (add copperwire) em motor
copper/bronze -> wire and basic electrical -> analog circuits

the bigger issue will probably be refining the more exotic elements into large useful quantities. assuming you allow them to take dna samples, bio engineered bacteria and algae could get a lot of bulk chemical precursors.

I wonder how hard this would be to simulate. The inputs are known, so its a matter of researching the stepwise processes involved and basically adding it all up (plus a margin of error for screw ups?)

The OP's question basically boils down to, "How long would it have taken to build Earth the way it is now, had man circa 8000BC known everything that we know today."

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Everyone tends to think about these kinds of problems as technical exercises. I submit that social engineering would play as large a part, if not greater, than any technical constraints. Consider this, who houses, feeds and protects the colonists who are busy reinventing civilization? And, do we want to copy our existing civilization, given the chance to start over?

 

[gorobei]

Kinda outside what the OP was asking. The question was how long to rebuild to modern technology with only raw planet.

The social part would be pretty utilitarian. It would be a colonization expedition so survival is the only concern. So anyone who cant look past any religious, philosophical, political, cultural morays/constraints wouldnt be invited. If 90% of the men died en route, think polygamy would be outlawed? if pigs are the only local fauna, think kosher/halal will be observed? think building wheelchair ramps will be the first priority when you land? Pretty sure hydro electric would be the first, easiest, and most reliable power source to begin with. Doubt they would care about all the fish they might stop going upstream to spawn.
The upside is since no long standing claims to particular lands, no real reasons for stupid border disputes/wars/ethnic purges that current countries get into.

 

[Rudy Toody]

Chapter II contains a plausible scenario for colonizing distant planets.

In my mind, the only worthwhile chapter in the book.

 

[Gibsons]

I think I take a few less people to make some room for a few tractors, bulldozers, etc.

 

[bntran02]

Is having a ship built that can easily be disassembled for parts against the rules?

 

[PlasmaBomb]

How fast is the ship?

 

[Murloc]

you fill the pockets of the people with know-it-all robot components.

 

[jimhsu]

I suppose a question to ask: assuming that each person onboard takes up 2 cubic meters (well, not counting food and all, but anyways), what would you take? Equipment, raw materials, etc etc?

 

[JoeKing]

if people and knowledge are the only resources, and cannibalizing the ship is not allowed... then choosing your people would be the only real variable you have control in prep for the expedition.

Not to sound harsh, but I would say in choosing the colonizers 990k menial labor workers with very limited intelligence (maybe genetically designed) capable of following simple instructions and possessing anti-violent tendency's with extreme obedience. More or less human robots.

Then 10k scientists, engineers, teachers, and children. Assuming the trip is either instantaneous or the passengers do not age.

Cold, harsh, and immoral. But I think having this group makeup would be the fastest way to get Earth II to our current tech. I'm thinking 1 maybe 2 generations? Barring plagues and mass deaths, 70 years.

Earth II generation 3 and beyond is kind of scary to think about.

 

[gevorg]

How fast is the ship?

With current speeds, by the time we reach Earth II, they would colonize both the ship and Earth I.

 

[Nithin]

Find the oil, claim it, and wait for the industrial era so you get really rich.

Kind of silly that you have room for 1 million people and no machinery, though . I'd rather have 500K people and machinery.

Agreed, but I think that would make it less interesting. Here we have starting from scratch armed only with knowledge and have to build a civilization, i thought it was fascinating.

 

[Nithin]

I would say in choosing the colonizers 990k menial labor workers with very limited intelligence (maybe genetically designed) capable of following simple instructions and possessing anti-violent tendency's with extreme obedience. More or less human robots.

Then 10k scientists, engineers, teachers, and children. Assuming the trip is either instantaneous or the passengers do not age.

Good point but I would reduce the menial laborers and increase the skilled folks for the only reason that since we already have the knowledge of machines manual skills would be less important in a few years but the other skills would be a premium.

 

[greenhawk]

Good point but I would reduce the menial laborers and increase the skilled folks for the only reason that since we already have the knowledge of machines manual skills would be less important in a few years but the other skills would be a premium.

done side to this is that with some of the intelegent people working, accidents amount them would be higher than needed so instead of just another 10K (on the original 10K), you would be needing to look at 50K (going to be sunk if the only person that knows a important tech step is lost for some reason).

that being said, having people that know some techs (higher end ones) are rather useless until the tech is at that level.

Having the knowledge is all well and good, but I suspect without a good foundation to learn it, even re-training people in a few decades time to replace people that have died of old age is not a easy task. Just look at a text book for a topic you have no idea about, then see how easy it would be to learn that field just from the text books.

Personally, the issue of needing to feed so many as soon as you get to the planet is just about a deal breaker. Add in when that knowledge is needed, and I suspect most of the advantage of taking 1million people is lost.

Either need to have crygentic freezing, or need multiple ships over a long period of time.

of course, if the ship is large enough to be self contained, most of these issues go away, and then the question is, how long will it take to build a orbital elivator.

At which point, if the ship is self contained, why do you want the planet?, just stop as a nearby astroid belt, mine the extra base materials, and start building a second ship.

 

[pw38]

The govt of earth has discovered a distant planet identical to earth - Earth II - a few hundred light years away. As minister of colonization, your task is to come up with a detailed plan to colonize and populate the planet and bring it to the same state of industrial development as Earth currently is. This will most likely not occur during your lifetime but your plan should specify how it should be done. Some of the limitations are

1. Your ships dont have enough space to take any machinery except computers on which you have all knowledge of the entire human race. History, Industry, Engergy everything.
2. You are able to take 1 million people with you. You need to choose who to take i.e. what kind of expertise.
3. It's going to be a one-way one-time trip. You will not get any more resources from Earth I.
4. For simplicity Earth II is identical to the current Earth in every way.


You have to start from the Stone Age except you know what the progression on earth was. List your plan and what you would accomplish in each step. Maybe each step could be a 5 yr plan or similar depending on your requirements. How many years would you need to reach today's technology level?


Nithin.

I'm assuming there are sufficient methods of protecting this large a number of people from the consequences of being transported through space for that long a period of time. If not there might not be enough viable candidates for continuing this society beyond those who finally make it there.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The most brilliant theoretical minds on Earth II would be nearly useless for decades. Having the knowledge without the ability to recreate all the supporting technology means it is useless. Everyone tends to think our ancestors here on the original Earth were dumb unsophisticated science challenged yokels up to roughly the age of industrialization. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The kicker is that starting from the ground up requires a huge investment in time and labor. Everyone might long for a John Deer tractor but getting a steam powered one after a couple years of nothing but hand power would be a minor miracle.

 

[pw38]

I'll further that and just say that if we're going back to the stone age once we're there why even bother? I know it's a thought experiment but at least make it plausible. If you were to say it's a one way trip, limited supplies, and they have enough technology to at least give them a realistic shot at surviving in an unknown environment I'd be all for theorizing. To say that it'd be irresponsible/shortsided/illogical/stupid to send that large a group of people to an alien environment (regardless of how similar it is to Earth) while telling them to just start over is putting it mildly. It's more like: this is the last of mankind, Earth is scorched, and you better pray for the best once you make it there (assuming you do). Again I know, a thought experiment, but come on...

 

[bryanl]

A million people weigh ~20 times more than the largest rocket we've ever launched and an interstellar flight for them could require more energy than ever generated by man. Wouldn't it be easier to get rid of the human bodies, including the brains? That would allow carrying more equipment to rebuild society

 

[Monster_Munch]

I would send a ship full of robots 50 years earlier to do all the mining and building. By the time the humans arrive, the place has already been turned into a giant 5 star hotel.