I do want to say that you’re totally right about space based manufacturing key to any real expansion into space. I mean automated would be nice, but it’s not totally necessary. Getting manufacturing to work in space at all is going to take some serious experimentation, so it can’t really start 100% automated. But on the other hand, I do expect robotic drones to play a major role, even in the beginning.

Radiation isn’t that big a deal. If you have a large enough structure for a colony, or even large enough for 50 people, then you have plenty of mass for radiation shielding. At that scale it’s a non-issue.

Psychological issues from being in cramped ships for so long.

Well, only at first… Families don’t want to live in cramped ships, so they won’t. They’ll live in artificial habitats with grass and open spaces. Eventually they’ll be large enough to have rivers and mountains.

But even without all that, just ask anyone who’s served on a submarine if it’s possible to survive in cramped quarters. It’s doable.

humans simply are not built for space.

Humans aren’t built for 0g, and I expect we will never live whole lives like that. But living in space does not require living in 0g.

I’m quite certain that if humans manage to survive and continue to thrive for another 200 years, we will absolutely be living in space. And at that point it will be inevitable that the number of humans living in space will eventually come to dwarf the number living on planets.

It’s the pivotal moment in War of the Worlds, for instance, and I can’t see any way to avoid it.

I can think of a way to avoid it. And it’s obviously a better first contact scenario when you think about it. It’s simple, when you arrive at a planet for first contact, don’t make it on the planet, make it at the largest space station found in orbit.

You can literally make contact in space suits, in space. If initial contact goes well and their required atmospheres (and necessary atmospheric pressure) are compatible, you can make further contact in the station, limiting the spread of any possible contamination.

Additional benefit: first contact will be made with scientists and engineers, not with politicians or nut jobs.

Why do people keep trying to do this? The fact is, you can’t beat good encryption and you can’t beat the Internet.

As soon as a country outlaws an app like this, users will simply not be able to download it “officially”. They’ll have to set up an Internet proxy or vpn, and then download it… It may take an extra 10 minutes to install.

They can’t block this… So why try?