https://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/interstellar.pdf
As the author points out, one of the problems is the huge trip times, in hundreds of year, that would probably make the goods obsolete by the time they are delivered.
In occurred to me that the problem may be the solution: that is, trading antiques.
1. Buy relatively old, uncommon items in system A.
2. Shipping them to planet B be takes hundreds of years
3. ???
4. By the time you deliver them they are rare, antique and therefore expensive.
5. Profit!
Interstellar trade
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Cmdr. Aiden Henessy
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Re: Interstellar trade
Hmm, interesting article. I think interstellar trade would be practically impossible, however there'd be numerous reasons still to have interstellar ships, as a sort of "time freeze" ability. Antiques would be interesting, but given that there's no guarantee that the items are even "in style" in the other world, it's a risky business. Food could be processed, as people would love to have an ancient delicacy from another world.
Sick people who are close to dying could be sent to another planet, in hopes that a cure would be found by the time they reached the destination. This would be especially true if the planet was more advanced the the one they were currently at.
Floura and Fauna could be put on ships, basically to act like a futuristic Noah's Ark. In case a certain species dies out on Planet A by the time the ship reaches Planet B, then you can re-colonize. Only problem would be making sure the animals on the ship don't take over on planet B.
The biggest problem would lie, ultimately, in the people involved. The crew would have to bring their whole families and loved ones aboard, because when they got back they'd probably be all dead. The toll it'd take on the crew, too, to spend a significant chunk of their lives in the trading business, but then retire later and have to find their way in a whole new world and timeline, is pretty harsh. Then who's to say that the ship may even be greeted by the time it reaches its destination? We see how rapidly world politics change, a ship could reach it's destination and find it's fallen into anarchy, or a dictatorship, and is unwelcome or even illegal.
That's a very interesting topic for sure... It'd be an interesting plot for a movie. I'll have to spend some time dwelling on that.
Sick people who are close to dying could be sent to another planet, in hopes that a cure would be found by the time they reached the destination. This would be especially true if the planet was more advanced the the one they were currently at.
Floura and Fauna could be put on ships, basically to act like a futuristic Noah's Ark. In case a certain species dies out on Planet A by the time the ship reaches Planet B, then you can re-colonize. Only problem would be making sure the animals on the ship don't take over on planet B.
The biggest problem would lie, ultimately, in the people involved. The crew would have to bring their whole families and loved ones aboard, because when they got back they'd probably be all dead. The toll it'd take on the crew, too, to spend a significant chunk of their lives in the trading business, but then retire later and have to find their way in a whole new world and timeline, is pretty harsh. Then who's to say that the ship may even be greeted by the time it reaches its destination? We see how rapidly world politics change, a ship could reach it's destination and find it's fallen into anarchy, or a dictatorship, and is unwelcome or even illegal.
That's a very interesting topic for sure... It'd be an interesting plot for a movie. I'll have to spend some time dwelling on that.
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Disembodied
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Re: Interstellar trade
If you've not read it, you might enjoy Neptune's Brood, by Charles Stross. The meta/post/human populations have hugely extended lifespans (which obviously affects their concept of e.g. "a long time"), and much of the plot revolves around the problems of interstellar banking in a relativistic universe, requiring "slow money". "Slow money" is currency whose lack of liquidity makes it stable over millennia, allowing it to be used for very long-term trade and investment - after all, there's not much point in going on an epic journey, making a big profit, and coming home to find out that nobody has even heard of Arcturan pobble-beads, let along accepts them as any sort of cash.
It's also quite funny, if you like nerd humour - plus there's a really good Monty Python in-joke …
It's also quite funny, if you like nerd humour - plus there's a really good Monty Python in-joke …