[bobbylarrybobby]

> in comparison to the distances that exist

This leaves out the time component. Who's to say that a year is long? A galaxy a million light years away takes a million years to reach... and maybe that's a short amount of time, to the right observer.

[mgraczyk]

Light could only go to Andromeda and back 1000 times before the sun burns out. That's not very many times IMO. On the scale of galaxies, light is slow relative to any timescale relevant to large objects.

[morsch]

Carrying the metaphor further, that's closer than America was to Europe in the 18th century.

[orra]

That's an interesting perspective.

Tangentially, I've long wondered about sci fi like Star Trek. Namely, even with FTL, how large can your interplanetary alliance be? How far away can the parliament be? Over what distances can you defend against common enemies? Trade? Culturally exchange ideas?

[mangodrunk]

I have had similar thoughts as well. Assuming FTL isn’t possible, at some point it wouldn’t make sense to have a cohesive system. Say, there’s an outpost that is 30 years away by the fastest spacecraft.

[darkwater]

How many times can you go from Lisbon to Beijing and back by car in your lifetime?

[hollandheese]

Surprisingly, about 1000 times if that was all you spent your adult life doing.

[mgraczyk]

Not many, because cars are slow