Totally Awesome Space Colonies

I remember when these pictures first came out. Even earlier, back in 1973 or 1974, I heard Gerard K. O’Neill give a talk at Stanford on “The Colonization of Space.” It was one of the transforming moments of my life: A new vision for the human future in space. In 1974 O’Neill wrote an article on this for Physics Today (I still have a photocopy) and soon afterwards the first edition of a book.

I still think such structures are possible, and indeed necessary for the long term future of the human race. But my guess is that most of the inhabitants will have darker skins, and will speak Mandarin or Hindi.