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We have to colonize more than one planet and become a space civilization. We risk too much if we don't.
by beauzero 6y ago
We have to colonize more than one planet and become a space civilization. We risk too much if we don't.
- Aardwolf 6y agoIf not a planet, at least floating space stations may be a possibility
- sosborn 6y agoHonest question: what do we really risk in the grand scheme of things? Extinction? Would that negatively affect anything other than our egos? (For the record, I’m all for colonizing other locations)
- c7DJTLrn 6y agoI think it would be a great shame if the only self-aware life in the observable universe dies out before it can find out the mechanisms behind all of this. Sometimes when I'm trying to doze off at night, I think about how strange our existence is. Not even the smartest people on this planet have any idea how or why the universe exists. We might never find out. We might be a simulation operated by higher beings, but that raises even more questions. Argh, what I would give to know.
- dTal 6y agoIt would negatively affect virtually every value system ever created. If human extinction isn't "bad", then nothing is "bad". Anyone that nihilistic clearly lacks any framework to assign value judgements to anything, and therefore has no business participating in any decision-making discussion (such as "should we travel to the stars").
- akvadrako 6y agoCertainty without humans or other spacefaring life all other species on Earth will go extinct. Does that really matter in the grand scheme of things or is it just ego? edit: To take it further, without some super-intelligent / supernatural beings it seems likely all structure in the universe will eventually disappear due to a heat death or a big crunch. Does even that matter? My take is that we are just too young to have any idea what really matters in the grand scheme so the best approach is just try to survive.
- bdamm 6y agoPerhaps we are descended from such travelers? Is our DNA an interstellar mix from 70k years ago? How would we know?
- zachrose 6y agoI never understand this sentiment. I get that "we" is "the human species" but in practice it just means "some people." A magnetic pole reversal would be nobody's fault, but knowing that some humans survived off-planet wouldn't make me feel better about it.
- dTal 6y agoI in turn don't understand this sentiment. What are you trying to say? That you don't care about the continued survival of humanity beyond your own demise? You would be perfectly happy for everyone to be wiped out the day after you die?
- brewdad 6y agoI will be dead. I'll have no feelings.
- pixl97 6y agoSo why not pollute and burn down the biosphere now if you dont care what happens after you're dead?
- meadsteve 6y agoyou've seen the current biosphere right? I think they have been.
- dTal 6y agosigh But you have feelings now, and are presumably capable of having feelings about events beyond your immediate experience. If someone offered you 5 bucks, with the caveat that if you take it then the Earth is destroyed the moment you die - you're a terrible person if you take the money. (Incidentally, there's not really any difference between not experiencing something because you're dead, and not experiencing it because your back is turned. Are you fine with atrocities in general, provided you don't find out about them?)
- 6y ago
- mempko 6y agoWe are in the middle of the sixth mass extinction and global warming. I fear we may have already run out of time.