Futures

Actually, it's a lot better to dig, free radiation shield!

- ???
My plan is to use concentrated sunlight to tunnel directly through an asteroid and use the material to build a small O'Neill cylinder inside. The rest of the rock would provide radiation shielding so the cylinder would be cheaper to construct, and we can send sunlight into the cylinder from either end using the same mirrors we carved the asteroid with.

In case you're like my space friends who want this as a poster

... I don't get this comic. Is it satirical, or is it just not saying anything?

Seems to be making the point that it would be kind of dumb to spread across the solar system just making the other planets just as messed up as what we are currently doing on Earth.
- There's not so much to mess up on, say, Mars. I mean the terrain is interesting in its way but it's not like we'd be annihilating complex ecosystems like we are here on earth. We would have to establish significant ecosystems anywhere we settled, in fact.
- It would be dumb unless we leave earth and turn it into a nature preserve
The joke is that Venus is special.
It is funny. I am not sure why or why the why matters
Do you not like balloons?
What is saying is that our style of life is stupid and boring compared to our ambitions. It's why I don't bother traveling. Little bit of different geography and I'm still just hanging out inside for comfort and amenities.

This kind of thing is why I'm most interested in abstractions and stuff like dancing.
- It’s why I don’t bother traveling. Little bit of different geography and I’m still just hanging out inside for comfort and amenities.
  
  Have you considered not staying at a resort/cruise ship? Like yeah I don't understand why people who just hang out inside travel either, that's why I don't do that.

Lol, we ain't making it off earth, especially not Venus

Ironically, between Venus' earth-like gravity and high atmospheric density, it might actually be easier to build cloud colonies on Venus than ground colonies on Mars.
- Except that venus is just absolutely hostile to everything
- In the long term, it's also possible to alter the atmosphere on Venus until it's approximately the same as Earth. It would be a massive undertaking, but a hell of a lot easier than getting Mars to a comfortably habitable state. And you could potentially get an entire habitable planet out of the deal, which would be nice.
  
  Kurzgesagt had an interesting video on the topic.
  
  Obviously it would take a significant investment of resources that would benefit some future generation, but not our own. So, back to being impossible, at least for now.
- Right cause getting food/oxygen/water is so easy while in fucking hot air balloons.
I remember reading some old sci-fi that thought Venus was going to be paradise. The next earth.

Then they found out how awful it really was.
- Yeah, lot of "Alien from venus!!" stuff. Too bad all the planets and moons are FAR from hospitable, we'd be better off fixing our own planet than trying to build a new one from scratch

City planners wouldn't allow more buildings on Earth...

Most vermin on this planet reflexively build nests all over the place to accommodate population growth. Its a sickness