Current Events > Nobel Prize Winner astronomer: Humans Will NOT migrate to other planets!

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https://m.phys.org/news/2019-10-humans-migrate-planets-nobel-winner.html

Nobel prize winner Michel Mayor says he idea of humans living on another planet is 'completely crazy'
Humans will never migrate to a planet outside of Earth's solar system because it would take far too long to get there, Swiss Nobel laureate Michel Mayor said Wednesday.

Mayor and his colleague Didier Queloz were on Tuesday awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their research refining techniques to detect so-called exoplanets.

"If we are talking about exoplanets, things should be clear: we will not migrate there," Mayor told AFP near Madrid on the sidelines of a conference when asked about the possibility of humans moving to other planets.

"These planets are much, much too far away. Even in the very optimistic case of a livable planet that is not too far, say a few dozen light years, which is not a lot, it's in the neighbourhood, the time to go there is

The 77-year-old said he felt the need to "kill all the statements that say 'OK, we will go to a liveable planet if one day life is not possible on earth'."

"It's completely crazy," he added.

Using custom-made instruments at their observatory in southern France, Mayor and Queloz in October 1995 discovered what had previously only existed in the realm of science fictiona planet outside Earth's solar system.

Mayor was a professor at Geneva University and Queloz was his doctorate student, when they made the discovery which started a revolution in astronomy. Since then over 4,000 exoplanets have been found in our home galaxy.

Dude seems knowledgeable about planets.

He is obviously talking about exoplanets, not Mars or etc. We could definitely migrate to the moon and Mars and eventually exoplanets as tech improves.
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Seems a bit silly to discount the possibility of technological advancement that is currently inconceivable.

pls posted...

He is obviously talking about exoplanets, not Mars or etc. We could definitely migrate to the moon and Mars and eventually exoplanets as tech improves.

Except he talks about close livable planets being too far.

Even in the very optimistic case of a livable planet that is not too far, say a few dozen light years, which is not a lot, it's in the neighbourhood, the time to go there is considerable," he added.

"We are talking about hundreds of millions of days using the means we have available today. We must take care of our planet, it is very beautiful and still absolutely liveable."

Yeah this is true. Climate change and nuclear war will ensure we stay rooted on this here blue planet turning red.

darkphoenix181 posted...

Except he talks about close livable planets being too far.

Even in the very optimistic case of a livable planet that is not too far, say a few dozen light years, which is not a lot, it's in the neighbourhood, the time to go there is considerable," he added.

"We are talking about hundreds of millions of days using the means we have available today. We must take care of our planet, it is very beautiful and still absolutely liveable."

Mars isn't lightyears away. Perhaps not currently possible, but not impossible

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NeoShadowhen posted...

Seems a bit silly to discount the possibility of technological advancement that is currently inconceivable.

Maybe. But neither you or me revolutionized astronomy and won a nobel prize for it so maybe he isn't as silly as we laymen think.

not with that attitude, we won't.
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darkphoenix181 posted...

Except he talks about close livable planets being too far.

Read your own quote

darkphoenix181 posted...

Humans will never migrate to a planet outside of Earth's solar system because it would take far too long to get there

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You guys watch too much Star Wars. Moving to another planet is literally not possible

darkphoenix181 posted...

pls posted...

He is obviously talking about exoplanets, not Mars or etc. We could definitely migrate to the moon and Mars and eventually exoplanets as tech improves.

Except he talks about close livable planets being too far.

Even in the very optimistic case of a livable planet that is not too far, say a few dozen light years, which is not a lot, it's in the neighbourhood, the time to go there is considerable," he added.

"We are talking about hundreds of millions of days using the means we have available today. We must take care of our planet, it is very beautiful and still absolutely liveable."

Currently livable. Mars is like 3 light minutes away and there's ideas out there about how to make it habitable.
Not sure if any of them are viable at the moment, but build on those ideas and test some stuff out and we'll get there :)

We also need to take care of our current planet first, even if its just for our own sake.
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Don't get mad at me, phys.org titled article:

Humans will not 'migrate' to other planets, Nobel winner says

coh posted...

You guys watch too much Star Wars. Moving to another planet is literally not possible

Flying is for birds. Mankind will never fly!
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He isn't wrong we want to find Another inhabitable planet lets take care of the one we know can sustain life eh or start building under water cities
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darkphoenix181 posted...

Don't get mad at me, phys.org titled article:

Humans will not 'migrate' to other planets, Nobel winner says

Humans will never migrate to a planet outside of Earth's solar system
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Alkeez posted...

darkphoenix181 posted...

Don't get mad at me, phys.org titled article:

Humans will not 'migrate' to other planets, Nobel winner says

Humans will never migrate to a planet outside of Earth's solar system

Here is the thing.

If we have the ability to teraform Mars, why would we need to leave earth?

Take a moment and think it over.

darkphoenix181 posted...

Alkeez posted...

darkphoenix181 posted...

Don't get mad at me, phys.org titled article:

Humans will not 'migrate' to other planets, Nobel winner says

Humans will never migrate to a planet outside of Earth's solar system

Here is the thing.

If we have the ability to teraform Mars, why would we need to leave earth?

Take a moment and think it over.

Im not sure what you are trying to argue here. You quoted the guy without full context and I corrected you.

I haven't said anything about leaving earth. We should however keep exploring and continue with innovations - terraforming mars might just be a good idea, even if its not because we have to leave earth
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Alkeez posted...

darkphoenix181 posted...

Alkeez posted...

darkphoenix181 posted...

Don't get mad at me, phys.org titled article:

Humans will not 'migrate' to other planets, Nobel winner says

Humans will never migrate to a planet outside of Earth's solar system

Here is the thing.

If we have the ability to teraform Mars, why would we need to leave earth?

Take a moment and think it over.

Im not sure what you are trying to argue here. You quoted the guy without full context and I corrected you.

I haven't said anything about leaving earth. We should however keep exploring and continue with innovations - terraforming mars might just be a good idea, even if its not because we have to leave earth

The idea that phys.org got the quote wrong because we might teraform Mars is overlooking that the same technology should be able to reverse a damaged earth.

There would be no reason to go to Mars if we had teraforming technology.

pls posted...

He is obviously talking about exoplanets, not Mars or etc. We could definitely migrate to the moon and Mars and eventually exoplanets as tech improves.

How do we survive on a planet with such low gravity?

Wait until we find the Mass Relays first
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I dunno man, people shouldn't take science fiction stories seriously but again, there's physics that goes on today that any physicist would've said is impossible 50 years ago

There's so much to know about technological advancement that discounting the possibility of space travel this early is unhealthily pessimistic
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But we don't have terraforming technology.... and trying to terraform Mars might help that technology along?

Phys.org made a headline - they then, right beneath, quoted the guy correctly. Then you took the headline and made it into his quote

He is clearly talking about planets outside of our own solar system.

Keep exploring and keep innovating are reasons enough, though. We shouldn't move to other planets because we have to, but because we want to!
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awesome999 posted...

there's physics that goes on today that any physicist would've said is impossible 50 years ago

Such as?

darkphoenix181 posted...

awesome999 posted...

there's physics that goes on today that any physicist would've said is impossible 50 years ago

Such as?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iphcyNWFD10" data-time="

About the 7:20 mark, granted the professor talking is not the most experienced

There was a longer video that talked about how far we've come in pure and applied physics in the past century or so but can't find it and I'm not skimming it
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I mean, we'd just slowly destroy those planets anyway.
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We weren't gonna fly, either.

Pretending to know anything about the future that far out is ridiculous.

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Kinda have a feeling we'll die off before we migrate to Mars too.
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Smashingpmkns posted...

Kinda have a feeling we'll die off before we migrate to Mars too.

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A lot of current results are actually confirming theoretical results from the early 20th century.
But sure, I'll happily listen to the cases where conservation laws have been falsified, especially ones that are continuously confirmed with new experiments and discoveries.
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vigorm0rtis posted...

We weren't gonna fly, either.

Pretending to know anything about the future that far out is ridiculous.

Who say we weren't gonna fly?

Methinks you guys are conflating physicists with random backwater hicks and their opinions.

No one alive today (or even within the next several hundred years) will ever reach any of these exo-planets that are light years away. That shouldn't be remotely controversial.
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what's the point of even going to Mars or the Moon other than Earth becoming insanely overpopulated.
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I don't expect mankind to leave the solar system for thousands of years. I expect that terraforming and making livable artificial habitats will be viable technologies by the time the next milestone will be to reach a planet outside our solar system.

Of course, that's assuming we don't destroy ourselves before that.

coh posted...

You guys watch too much Star Wars. Moving to another planet is literally not possible

I bet they said the same thing about going to the moon 1000 years ago.

And Stars Wars lit a fire in the research community and stimulated a ton of research. Don't underestimate the power of the imagination.
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I'm sure that 17th century scientists never imagined a contraption holding a thousand library's worth of information, have the capapiblity of delivering and receiving sounds from the other side of the Earth, and record both moving and still images, yet weigh less than one's own hand. Also, it's powered by lightning. I mean, electricity.

Speaking of which, when was electricity discovered? When was electromagentic radiation discovered? It's always been around, of course, but it's only been known to us for a few centuries. There could be something ever present to us that we've simply not yet discovered because we haven't developed the instruments to detect it with. That whatever it is, could prove to be a breaktrough to space travel.

Also, a side note: sliced bread was not invented until 1928, and bread is one of the oldest inventions in human history. Sliced bread was invented after the radio. Think about that for a while.
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ALIEN_WORK2HOP posted...

what's the point of even going to Mars or the Moon other than Earth becoming insanely overpopulated.

Rich people barely have babies.

Thompson posted...

I'm sure that 17th century scientists

Kind of a difference between the first scientists who were just getting their feet wet and coming up with the sciences

And an astronomer who actually specializes in the field in question and is a notable one who won the nobel prize.

Sad_Face posted...

I bet they said the same thing about going to the moon 1000 years ago.

Again, which conservation laws, strongly supported by theory and experiments, have we falsified ever?
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scar the 1 posted...

Sad_Face posted...

I bet they said the same thing about going to the moon 1000 years ago.

Again, which conservation laws, strongly supported by theory and experiments, have we falsified ever?

Irrelevant. Magnetic Monopoles can exist but you don't see people betting on it.
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darkphoenix181 posted...

Here is the thing.

If we have the ability to teraform Mars, why would we need to leave earth?

Take a moment and think it over.

Here is the thing:

We don't have the ability to terraform Mars, and probably never will.

We will not be able to colonize other worlds unless we miraculously invent something akin to a warp drive.

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Sad_Face posted...

scar the 1 posted...

Sad_Face posted...

I bet they said the same thing about going to the moon 1000 years ago.

Again, which conservation laws, strongly supported by theory and experiments, have we falsified ever?

Irrelevant. Magnetic Monopoles can exist but you don't see people betting on it.

That's completely irrelevant to anything, lol
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scar the 1 posted...

That's completely irrelevant to anything, lol

The point I am trying to make is that just because we don't have the information now, doesn't mean it's impossible. Our laws are created as a response to fit the observations we've recorded. They're not the word of God. And again, the power of naivete and imagination is what drives a lot of groundbreaking research (like in the blockchain industry).
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Sad_Face posted...

scar the 1 posted...

That's completely irrelevant to anything, lol

The point I am trying to make is that just because we don't have the information now, doesn't mean it's impossible. Our laws are created as a response to fit the observations we've recorded. They're not the word of God. And again, the power of naivete and imagination is what drives a lot of groundbreaking research (like in the blockchain industry).

And the point I'm making is that "just because we falsified stuff before, we can do it again" is a bad argument, since the knowledge 1000 years ago was based on easily falsified beliefs, whereas now our understanding of the universe today is a lot more rigorous. Our laws aren't just a fit of observations, they've predicted plenty of observations as well.
Saying that "we can discover how to travel faster than light, because we used to believe the Sun circled around the Earth" is a poor argument.

Furthermore, the falsifications we've done historically haven't necessarily radically changed existing theory. Newton's laws of motion are still plenty valid under most normal conditions.
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scar the 1 posted...

A lot of current results are actually confirming theoretical results from the early 20th century.
But sure, I'll happily listen to the cases where conservation laws have been falsified, especially ones that are continuously confirmed with new experiments and discoveries.

I mean, technically speaking conservation of energy was shown to be false by Einstein

But physics doesn't really do "false", new results tend to show existing theories as being "incomplete"

I don't understand the point you're trying to make, so it's completely possible that my post doesn't rebut your argument at all

Edit: just saw your above post. I think you're making the same point as me lmao
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scar the 1 posted...

And the point I'm making is that "just because we falsified stuff before, we can do it again" is a bad argument, since the knowledge 1000 years ago was based on easily falsified beliefs, whereas now our understanding of the universe today is a lot more rigorous. Our laws aren't just a fit of observations, they've predicted plenty of observations as well.
Saying that "we can discover how to travel faster than light, because we used to believe the Sun circled around the Earth" is a poor argument.

Furthermore, the falsifications we've done historically haven't necessarily radically changed existing theory. Newton's laws of motion are still plenty valid under most normal conditions.

We never falsified stuff. Just because it was incorrect doesn't mean it was falsified. It was just a belief that people had based on their observations before new observations came in and corrected it. If there's new information that contradicts our theories, then we have to correct them to account for those new scenarios.

And honestly, I can't see how someone can dedicate their life to a field of exploration without a sense of wonder and "what if". To create things that are considered revolutionary, like Satoshi Nakamoto's bitcoin, you have to feel like you're doing the impossible.
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Sad_Face posted...

scar the 1 posted...

And the point I'm making is that "just because we falsified stuff before, we can do it again" is a bad argument, since the knowledge 1000 years ago was based on easily falsified beliefs, whereas now our understanding of the universe today is a lot more rigorous. Our laws aren't just a fit of observations, they've predicted plenty of observations as well.
Saying that "we can discover how to travel faster than light, because we used to believe the Sun circled around the Earth" is a poor argument.

Furthermore, the falsifications we've done historically haven't necessarily radically changed existing theory. Newton's laws of motion are still plenty valid under most normal conditions.

We never falsified stuff. Just because it was incorrect doesn't mean it was falsified. It was just a belief that people had based on their observations before new observations came in and corrected it. If there's new information that contradicts our theories, then we have to correct them to account for those new scenarios.

We did falsify stuff. We falsified Copernican theories, for example. Galileo falsified Aristotelean mechanics. Atomism has been falsified. The list goes on.
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Well they have 5 billion years before the sun engulfs us to figure that out.
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fenderbender321 posted...

This assumes that a new planet just like Earth won't be formed near ours sometime in the future.

Uh, sure, the Kuiper belt will just spontaneously collect itself into a new and temperate planet in a matter of weeks, any day now.
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