Well now how about this development:

Scientists in California carried out computer simulations that suggest Earth-like planets may be orbiting Alpha Centauri B.

At least some are likely to be in the so-called "habitable zone" at just the right distance from their parent star to allow oceans, lakes and rivers to form without freezing or boiling away. Such planets are the best candidates for supporting life as we know it.

Anyone standing on a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B would see two "suns" in the sky, a bright "primary" sun and a "secondary" sun which would be much weaker but still many times brighter than the full moon as seen from Earth.

The astronomers hope to carry out intensive studies of the Alpha Centauri system using the 1.5 metre telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

Over the next few years, we'll have new telescopes coming on line that will give us a clear idea of what's really orbiting Alpha Centauri B and other nearby stars. I don't expect we'll find unambiguous proof of a technological civilizations out there anywhere -- eyeballing it isn't really how you look for that -- but maybe we'll find a few planets showing some signs of life.

Any that show promise we can put on the itinerary for what I'm calling my retirement cruise. It's Plan C for what I want to do with my golden years, some 40-50 years from now. Here are all three plans in order.

Plan A

Effective life extension technology kicks in and I just keep on keeping on with whatever I happen to be doing by then. The Speculist and FastForward Radio will probably not exist in their current form, but that only means they will be replaced by something even more fun.

Plan B

The Singularity kicks in and I get uploaded into a posthuman state of techno-nirvana of which I am literally incapable of providing an adequate -- or even inadequate -- description. Some might recoil at this techno-Utopian / techno- eschatological vision, but please note. This is only Plan B.

Plan C

Still shy of the Singularity and adequate life extension, but living in a world in which nanotechnology and computer technology have continued to put more and more capability into the hands of the common individual, at about age 90 some like-minded individuals and I set out for interstellar space in a fusion-powered craft designed to accelerate at about 1G, approaching -- but obviously not quite achieving -- the speed of light. We cruise along for 10 years or so, elapsed ship time, visiting a planet or two along the way. We then return to earth where, depending on how much time we spent accelerating and decelerating, hundreds or thousands of years will have passed.

(I suppose plan D would be death and cryonic suspension, but that doesn't really appeal to me.)

Anyhow, by the time I get back from my retirement cruise, the whole life extension and / or Singularity thing should have happened, so I can carry on with Plan A or B. Of course, as a living archaeological relic, I will have a lot of catching up to do before I will have much credibility as a Speculist.

But that's fine.

Give me a century or two and I'll be all caught up.