Colonizing the galaxy in 50 million years sounds great until you realize that's nothing to the universe and we've never managed anything for 50 years.
The thread opens with skepticism about galactic colonization timescales, noting humanity's poor track record with long-term projects. The first response counters by arguing that unified civilization isn't necessary - self-replicating probes and decentralized colonies could bypass the coordination problem entirely.
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Feb 28, 2026
You're assuming we need to last 50 million years as a unified civilization - we don't. Even if Earth's governments collapse every 500 years, stateless colonies spreading across the galaxy don't need central coordination. Once you've got self-replicating Von Neumann probes, the timescale problem evaporates.