I have been doing bit of a deep dive in space colonization, speculating how far our ingenuity might actually take us. I have been interested in the Kardesheve Scale ever since I was 16 and put hours into consuming any information regarding it. I understand that Type 3 is the maximum power usage that Kardesheve predicted, but now I see a lot of people talking about Type 4, Type 5, and even Type Omega. I find that this kind of speculation is starting to get ridiculous, hence why I started looking for more realistic (but still theoretical) scenarios, and so far I think Type 2 is the most likely outcome, believing that concepts such as the Dyson Sphere and the Caplan Thruster are possible. We might colonize exoplanets from the comfort of our solar system, sending generation ships as we pass by neighboring stars, even though we might not be able to ever communicate with them again once they reach a certain distance due to the speed of light being the fastest that information can travel, it's also the reason that I don't think a Galactic Federation can happen. Not only would a galaxy-wide organization be too big to reasonably manage, but the speed of light would make it impossible for all star systems to cooperate. Even though FTL methods such as the Alcubierre Drive and Wormholes are technically possible, they require exotic resources that do not exist in our universe and could probably break causality. Even if a Galactic Federation was possible, would it really be necessary? Think about it, does one power really to occupy and control that many worlds? If we managed to only ever populate just the entire Solar System, I think that would be enough for humanity because it would be much easier to manage than a galaxy and the farthest celestial body in the Solar System, Pluto, is only 5.5 light hours, which is a more tolerable communication distance compared to Proxima B. Even though we might be confined to our solar system, we can still explore and populate the galaxy, despite not being able to form any practical, real-time communication with those systems. That is just what I like to believe, I would like to hear what you think. Do you agree/disagree? Do you believe we might develop FTL? What's your prediction?

I'm sure this has been discussed here before, but seems a worthy topic.

In my opinion, this is the most important goal for the survival of our civilization, but frustratingly remote to our lives in 2024.

What can we do?

Hi All - I'm new here. Does anyone else feel like massive space habitats are the only hope for our civilization?

https://splittinginfinity.substack.com/p/a-glass-oneill-cylinder-in-leo

I sketch a particular design for an O'Neill cylinder that might be within reach for modern governments. Let me know what you think!

Even if the design isn't to your liking, the appendix has some math on O'neill cylinders that I couldn't find anywhere else!