4 ms·

If you only consider the near future, food and food security is more important than space. If you consider long-term, we should be pouring everything we have i

If you only consider the near future, food and food security is more important than space. If you consider long-term, we should be pouring everything we have into figuring out space colonization and travel, but I also just want to live in The Culture already, so I'm biased.

honestoHeminway 7y ago
Ive tryied to change "Ok, Google" into "Planet" or "Hub". It wont work.
adrianN 7y ago
If you consider mid-term we should pour everything into de-carbonizing the economy.
- JTbane 7y ago
  Not to be pessimistic but all signs are pointing towards the world economy expanding emissions and fossil fuel usage.
noir_lord 7y ago
It sometimes annoys me I was born too early to live in a possible culture like society. Then I realise I'm happy to have been born at all, getting to appreciate the universe for 39 years (next Thursday) was a good deal.
- gremlinsinc 7y ago
  being a newly born atheist/agnostic (ex-mormon), I have to say I never felt as spiritual and in 'awe' of the galaxy as I do post-belief-in-god, as I see it life is a miracle, to be able to be here, in this time of technology, to have a family that I adore two little babies that make me feel lucky every day. To experience daily beautiful music like Queen, it's truly amazing what we have and if it is all random how much more beautiful is it that this all came from chaos? Maybe our chaos that is politics/divisions might work itself out into something more beautiful as we lift ourselves up and move into the universe. It's inevitable that life on earth will end someday, entropy and all. I'm hoping mankind doesn't. I'm hoping we figure out how to get past the great filter if we haven't already. I sure as hell hope we get past climate change, as that could be the filter and it's ever looming, even on my own children's heads.
- howard941 7y ago
  The Culture would be an awesome place to live. Banks demonstrated that utopian visions needn't all be disguised dystopias, didn't he? Happy birthday.
braythwayt 7y ago
Let me be the lone voice of dissent fervently hoping that mankind (at least in any form I can envision us) does not leave our solar system. Why do we need to "colonize space?" Show me mankind living peacefully and within its means on our enormous rock, and then I'll get excited about us spreading elsewhere. Until then, I get the uneasy feeling that what we really want to do is shit our own bed, and instead of cleaning it up, simply spread out and start shitting in other beds. --- Jeebus, I'm cranky!
- Loughla 7y ago
  I'm with you. I'm not convinced it will happen because we can't get our shit together on Earth. We're screwing this planet up, and I'm not convinced we'll ever even have the opportunity to screw up another one before some sort of massive extinction-level event of our species. That being said, read The Night's Dawn trilogy. The undercurrent of those books is that we settled many planets specifically due to social/racial differences that we couldn't settle on Earth, but that aren't such a problem in space. It's an interesting take on the whole mess.
- gremlinsinc 7y ago
  I'm with you on that's probably how it'll happen, but IF we're the only intelligent life in the galaxy, I also don't want to see the miracle that it is intelligence snuffed out, I have HOPE that as we evolve, equality will rise, if we become space faring maybe scientists will become the leaders as well, and will lead by intelligence and not greed and deception. After we get to a post-scarcity society -- assuming nobody 'wants' for anything and the ai robots do most of the menial tasks I like to think that all our great grandchildren will be scientists and the only thing left for mankind to do is research and explore. Edit/to add: Maybe we'll be star trek and NOT firefly/star wars?
- adrianN 7y ago
  Space colonization does not allow us to shit our beds. Lifting things off Earth is too expensive to move our whole civilization. On the other hand, successful colonization of hostile environments like space or other planets requires great improvements in sustainability. Space ships and domed cities are too small to fuck around with the ecosystem for hundreds of years before you kill yourself.
SEJeff 7y ago
I'd love to be a Special Circumstances member aboard one of the Interesting Times Gang Ships. They always find the fund problems.

honestoHeminway 7y ago

Ive tryied to change "Ok, Google" into "Planet" or "Hub". It wont work.

adrianN 7y ago

If you consider mid-term we should pour everything into de-carbonizing the economy.

JTbane 7y ago
Not to be pessimistic but all signs are pointing towards the world economy expanding emissions and fossil fuel usage.

noir_lord 7y ago

It sometimes annoys me I was born too early to live in a possible culture like society. Then I realise I'm happy to have been born at all, getting to appreciate the universe for 39 years (next Thursday) was a good deal.

gremlinsinc 7y ago
being a newly born atheist/agnostic (ex-mormon), I have to say I never felt as spiritual and in 'awe' of the galaxy as I do post-belief-in-god, as I see it life is a miracle, to be able to be here, in this time of technology, to have a family that I adore two little babies that make me feel lucky every day. To experience daily beautiful music like Queen, it's truly amazing what we have and if it is all random how much more beautiful is it that this all came from chaos? Maybe our chaos that is politics/divisions might work itself out into something more beautiful as we lift ourselves up and move into the universe. It's inevitable that life on earth will end someday, entropy and all. I'm hoping mankind doesn't. I'm hoping we figure out how to get past the great filter if we haven't already. I sure as hell hope we get past climate change, as that could be the filter and it's ever looming, even on my own children's heads.
howard941 7y ago
The Culture would be an awesome place to live. Banks demonstrated that utopian visions needn't all be disguised dystopias, didn't he? Happy birthday.

braythwayt 7y ago

Let me be the lone voice of dissent fervently hoping that mankind (at least in any form I can envision us) does not leave our solar system. Why do we need to "colonize space?" Show me mankind living peacefully and within its means on our enormous rock, and then I'll get excited about us spreading elsewhere. Until then, I get the uneasy feeling that what we really want to do is shit our own bed, and instead of cleaning it up, simply spread out and start shitting in other beds. --- Jeebus, I'm cranky!

Loughla 7y ago
I'm with you. I'm not convinced it will happen because we can't get our shit together on Earth. We're screwing this planet up, and I'm not convinced we'll ever even have the opportunity to screw up another one before some sort of massive extinction-level event of our species. That being said, read The Night's Dawn trilogy. The undercurrent of those books is that we settled many planets specifically due to social/racial differences that we couldn't settle on Earth, but that aren't such a problem in space. It's an interesting take on the whole mess.
gremlinsinc 7y ago
I'm with you on that's probably how it'll happen, but IF we're the only intelligent life in the galaxy, I also don't want to see the miracle that it is intelligence snuffed out, I have HOPE that as we evolve, equality will rise, if we become space faring maybe scientists will become the leaders as well, and will lead by intelligence and not greed and deception. After we get to a post-scarcity society -- assuming nobody 'wants' for anything and the ai robots do most of the menial tasks I like to think that all our great grandchildren will be scientists and the only thing left for mankind to do is research and explore. Edit/to add: Maybe we'll be star trek and NOT firefly/star wars?
adrianN 7y ago
Space colonization does not allow us to shit our beds. Lifting things off Earth is too expensive to move our whole civilization. On the other hand, successful colonization of hostile environments like space or other planets requires great improvements in sustainability. Space ships and domed cities are too small to fuck around with the ecosystem for hundreds of years before you kill yourself.

SEJeff 7y ago

I'd love to be a Special Circumstances member aboard one of the Interesting Times Gang Ships. They always find the fund problems.