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mikee8989 t1_j22aysf wrote

I don't think there will be a lot of people wanting to go on the first generational ship or even the second. Lets say we develop some tech that will get us to say alpha centari in 800 years. In that amount of time we will certainly create better and faster ship technology so the first group to leave will be the last one to get there and when they do there will already be multiples generations of established traditions and way of life.

I for one woudn't want to be on that first ship knowing I will never see the destination. Being one of the middle generations would be a nightmare You never knew earth and you will not live to see the destination. You would have no purpose other than to grow up in a tin can have several kids and then die.

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Ent3rpris3 t1_j22ww4l wrote

It is an interesting approach - you're expected to have children. Like...I struggle to find a partner right now and to think how I could live on a generation ship with that requirement looming over my head. And would being single disqualify me outright?

Consider a society where every person setting the rules for 20-30 years is a parent with a partner who have at least 2 children; Theoretically with young, similarly aged children to that of their peers. That kind of dynamic would be interesting to see how it influences lifestyle and government far down the line.

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Hunter62610 t1_j22z8xx wrote

With current advancements in artificial wombs, I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't a problem. Children will be born, and people do like to be teachers. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if AI tech makes the Humans just kinda unneeded.

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Wakandanbutter t1_j23912z wrote

I was about to this exactly this. Just like I’m HALO without AI YOU’RE not getting shit done in under 500 years. They’re probably gonna do most of the work with people around to do hard math should an emergency happen. Also thankfully they’d probably have memory to store all of earth’s data so you’d have shit tons of stuff to read and watch. Hell they’d probably start making their own stuff

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Beef_Whalington t1_j239dsi wrote

.... it's pretty unlikely that any true ai will require humans around to do math for it

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sevenwheel t1_j2308ka wrote

I would expect that a generational ship would only accept married couples for that very reason.

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Cutecumber_Roll t1_j231jnr wrote

Maintaining good genetic diversity in a small population is easier without monogamy. Marriages might remain just for social stability and maintaining traditions but I wouldn't expect it necessarily.

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thexbin t1_j237zbf wrote

You also have to maintain a minimal viable population genetically. You must have large genetic variability. I think it would be required that you would need to have lots of children with lots of partners.

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bigmikemcbeth756 OP t1_j22yw1i wrote

That's because it's so much competition if you're on a ship it's so much less

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ensignr t1_j22qozr wrote

Presumably they would make living on a generational ship reasonably comfortable before they'd be asking anyone to get on one knowing they'd be committing themselves and their descendants to a lifetime of living on board.

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