/sci/ - Science & Math

>>8432653
>Even with giant structures, we're pretty good at calculating stress capacities and knowing how much force we can use. (9/11 and the WTC not withstanding.)
Yes, but more importantly, you're not going to be pulling more than 1G anyways - not with a human crew on board. That's pretty easy to pace, even if your ship is a fucking skyscraper, 99% of which is fuel.

I think Humanity's End had a more realistic solution with conventional mechanics though. Namely, you send a colony ship with embryos, not people, and a system that can birth and raise them, more or less to your cultural norms when they arrive. If you aren't pro-life (or even if you are, but don't fertilize the embryos before you land), losing the thing is no big deal, in terms of life lost. (Still a huge investment, so it'd suck, but no murder-guilt.)

Ship would still probably be pretty big, and fuel hungry, but not nearly as much so, and you could probably be free to pull several more G's - thus getting to your destination faster.

Would still require much more automation and biological tech than we currently have, not to mention cultural will (who would fund that shit!?) But it's certainly something conceivable for a slightly more advanced and more together civilization to pull.