Meet on the ground floor of QNC, on or near the gray slab benches at 7:20ish, and a regular will let everyone into a room in IQC for 7:30 pm. You can see the precise location on plus.codes. The benches are near the Ring Road entrance, and across the hall from an orange-tinted lab space.

As always, vegetarian snacks will be provided.

Activity

This week we are going to talk about space colonization. We’ll read some optimistic and pessimistic views on the feasibility of colonizing other planets and decide where we fit on the spectrum. We’ll also discuss what we think our future as an interplanetary species will look like and the chances of finding them aliens.

Readings

Pro Mars Colonization

https://nss.org/the-case-for-colonizing-mars-by-robert-zubrin/

Anti Mars Colonization

https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/zach-weinersmith-space-settlement/

Explanations of the Fermi Paradox and Great Filter

https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/05/28/dont-fear-the-filter/

https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/07/03/ssc-journal-club-dissolving-the-fermi-paradox/

Supplemental Readings

Pro space colonization

https://nickbostrom.com/papers/astronomical-waste/

Anti space colonization

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/YKqKv8tckMHkmFB4z/summary-of-and-thoughts-on-dark-skies-by-daniel-deudney

Venus first colonization

https://blackthornhedge.substack.com/p/the-wet-route-to-the-stars

Asteroid mining

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining

https://hir.harvard.edu/economics-of-the-stars/

How to industrialize Mars

https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2018/09/03/how-to-industrialize-mars/

Terraforming Mars

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.07344

https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2018/08/05/atmospheres-and-terraforming/

https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2024/08/24/terraforming-mars-with-nanowires/

A take on resource limitations

https://aeon.co/essays/could-we-reboot-a-modern-civilisation-without-fossil-fuels

Discussion Questions

How realistic is a sustainable Mars settlement?
If we get a Mars settlement in your lifetime, would you visit if you won a free trip?
Do you think humans will ever leave our solar system?
What is your p(aliens)? What do you think of the Fermi Paradox, Great Filter, and Dark Forest Theory?
How should we balance programs like SETI, NASA, etc vs spending resources focused on Earth?
Do you think asteroid mining will ever takeoff? What impacts will it have

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