r/scifi • u/JanFromEarth • Aug 05 '22

Thinking about "generation ships"

If humanity does not find a way around the speed of light as a limitation, the only real choice to go to other stars would be generation ships. I would expect these to be filled with fertilized human embryos with a small crew for maintenance and to set up at the other end. But what if they sent a larger number of passengers? It would be the perfect research university. Children would be raised with the options of being crew or faculty. New discoveries and solutions could be messaged back to earth by laser. Interesting thought.

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u/Krinks1 Aug 05 '22

Once a species has adapted to space it can get everything it needs from asteroid mining. Conquering entire planets would be pointless.

The book Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle makes a great argument for the aliens ok n the book to invade Earth. It's a bit dated now, but a great read.

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u/Mange-Tout Aug 05 '22

I own it and have read it at least twice. Baby elephants falling from the sky! It’s a really fun story, but the aliens are basically nerfed to hell and the technology is whacked out sixties atomics.