Survival Of The Human Race...Is This The Answer?

It seems to me the best way for mankind to spare itself in the future, is to begin building cities underwater in the oceans and seas.

Deep below the surface of the oceans, the temperature remains fairly constant, and there is no weather to speak of to worry about. All air coming into the cities from long floating tubes could be completely filtered of contaminants and pollution. There are more bodies of water than there is dry land on the earth, so to me it just makes sense.

Man destroying himself through nuclear war aside, we have the very real threat of mass destruction from asteroids and meteors. It seems that if most of civilization could be moved into underwater cities, that man could save himself from extinction.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that if we can build huge underGROUND complexes (NORAD) and some say even massive 'cities', then we could build underwater with great ease. I'm no engineer but I think it is certainly feasable, considering the human population is outgrowing it's land.

Ofcourse scientists want to begin colonizing other planets to ensure our survival, which is absolutely necessary, but with an enormous amount of realestate here on earth still untapped, isn't it a little more cost effective and realistic to start underwater first?

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I know you will) but this just makes sense.

Small long-term naval laboratories have been established underwater at relatively shallow depths (less than 100 ft.). My question to you is, how do you propose disposal of wastes in underwater cities?

It is difficult for me to see how large-scale underwater settlements would be more cost-efficient than the status quo. It is important to note, however, that I think man is doing better than ever and is in no particular danger of extinction.

We could re-engineer our DNA to have gills and fins,maybe even a sonar, that would be cool.

[edit on 4-5-2007 by DarkSide]

Ever played the game Aqua Nox?
The story of the game is quite similar to what Super70 proposed...but I find it unlikely that mankind is going to be based permanantley under the world oceans in the fututre.
Especially if mankind gets its ass in gear and starts to seriously colonize other planets.

Originally posted by super70


Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that if we can build huge underGROUND complexes (NORAD) and some say even massive 'cities', then we could build underwater with great ease. I'm no engineer but I think it is certainly feasable, considering the human population is outgrowing it's land.

The NORAD Cheyenne Mountain underground base is an amazing accomplishment but building underwater is an entirely different challenge. Just dealing with the water pressure alone is a huge obstacle. At 2000ft under water (same depth as above mentioned base) you are dealing with about half a ton of pressure per square inch.
Military submarines can go down that far. Here is some info on how dangerous things get underwater.

The task of building a pressure hull is very difficult, as it must withstand a force of several million tons. When the hull is perfectly round in cross-section, the pressure is evenly distributed, and causes only hull compression. If the shape is not perfect, the hull is bent, with several points heavily strained. Inevitable minor deviations are resisted by the stiffener rings, but even a one inch (25 mm) deviation from roundness results in over 30 percent decrease of maximal hydrostatic load and consequently dive depth.[4] The hull must therefore be constructed with very high precision. All hull parts must be welded without defects, and all joints are checked several times using different methods. This contributes to the very high cost of modern submarines. (For example, each Virginia-class attack submarine costs 2.6 billion dollars, over $200,000 per ton of displacement).
en.wikipedia.org...

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I know you will) but this just makes sense.

I think it makes sence because when the land becomes inhabitable our oceans will likely still contain an abundance of life.
Thing is we are not marine animals.

So what makes anyone believe that dry land will become uninhabitable anytime soon?

Originally posted by super70
It seems to me the best way for mankind to spare itself in the future, is to begin building cities underwater in the oceans and seas.

Deep below the surface of the oceans, the temperature remains fairly constant, and there is no weather to speak of to worry about. All air coming into the cities from long floating tubes could be completely filtered of contaminants and pollution. There are more bodies of water than there is dry land on the earth, so to me it just makes sense.

Man destroying himself through nuclear war aside, we have the very real threat of mass destruction from asteroids and meteors. It seems that if most of civilization could be moved into underwater cities, that man could save himself from extinction.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that if we can build huge underground complexes (NORAD) and some say even massive 'cities', then we could build underwater with great ease. I'm no engineer but I think it is certainly feasible, considering the human population is outgrowing it's land.

Ofcourse scientists want to begin colonizing other planets to ensure our survival, which is absolutely necessary, but with an enormous amount of real estate here on earth still untapped, isn't it a little more cost effective and realistic to start underwater first?

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I know you will) but this just makes sense.

When/If engineers ever get around to doing something like that, I think it would be pretty easy to wipe out a colonized underwater city if at war.

Travel, living conditions, there's a lot of things that play a role in something like this. I know speaking for myself, I wouldn't be to impressed living under water.

The way man thinks. I wouldn't trust them for a second... remember Titanic? They said it was unsinkable, it sunk. So if someone tells you they built a city underwater and it was completely safe from caving in on itself... you'd believe him?

I was thinking how could we survive a extinction level event like a large impactor, or worse, the super eruption of Yellowstone where the entire planet would briefly be the temperature of a self cleaning oven and come to the (easy) conclusion that there are only three options. One....deep underground cities , on the order of 60+km. Two.... space. Three... build under the Oceans. We should do all three. We have the technology to do all with the exception of possibly space. The easiest would be underground. Power the thing with redundant fission power. Then the oceans, again use fission power. Submarines can stay submerged for as long as supplies last. A underwater/ground city that recycled its wastes etc and had a power supply that lasted decades would be impervious to any natural disaster that I can think of, espicially if all three options were employed.

As it stands now we are only a target, and over due for a bullet. : ]>

I think humans are very adaptable to environments that other animals would die in, but I want the wind in my face and the rain hitting me on top of my head and the sun shining etc.. I think space is the ultimate environment that we need to focus on. Technology will allow us someday to travel the cosmos and find other planets and civilizations. I just wish we'd stop the wars and spend that money on space travel and new technologies that will allow us to travel to new worlds. I do think it's going to happen one day in the far away future.

We can and i belive we will do this in the future. We need to actually, in the next 50 years we are going to start seeing the effects of over population in the planet. These cities can work, but starting off slowly is key. I think we need to be creative and instead of using nuclear power try to embrace tidle currents in order to generate electricity.