Hello, SFIA audio listeners. In this month's Nebula exclusive, big alien theory,

we're asked at the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.

To hear it and every episode early and ad-free, plus hours of bonus content,

check out go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.

In the future, we will not simply travel to visit new worlds, but seek to build homes and forge

lives on them.

So what would being a pioneer in space truly be like?

Chloe and George Astrid moved to Venus in the 23rd century because the Hollivids

showed them a life of rural splendor in their own private sky castle. George had proposed

to Chloe on the observation balcony of the 3,783 floor of the Archaeology in New York they

both grew up in. The view way up there was above the clouds, where the sun still shines, even when it

was raining down below, and he said spending time with Chloe made every day a sunny day

for him, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Venus is a nightmare on the ground, a burning land where it rains acid on a molten terrain,

but far up above you can fly a blimp filled with normal breathable air because the thicker

Venusian atmosphere is heavier than air, and the temperature has cooled quite a bit.

You can take a virtual tour there where your blimp can slowly move along at a pace no

faster than a person might jog and keep up with the sun so that the sun never sets.

Life in the 23rd century is in many ways far better than any time in the past, but still

has its harsh moments, and after some personal tragedy hit them, George

talked his wife into moving to Venus to set up their own floating homestead far from anyone

else, floating above the clouds in perpetual sunshine.

...