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Unfortunately colonization with conventional spaceflight is not realistic. It would be far easier and exponentially cheaper to try to colonize the dessert than any moon or planet in our solar system.

However, if we can figure out a way to travel very quickly without the use of fossil fuels than things start to get interesting.

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Even at the speed of light the closest potential planets we could colonize at 4.5 years away. Now think about communication. Telling your parent's "hi" would take 4.5 years in either direction, even if we could ensure the signal gets back.

However, I believe a large global and unrealistic goal such as space colonization would help people to get along.

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