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Acknowledging the fact that everything perishes, including humans, because we are not special, does not imply that there is nothing wrong with suicide (though I

Acknowledging the fact that everything perishes, including humans, because we are not special, does not imply that there is nothing wrong with suicide (though I’d like to see you successfully argue that point—but that’s a separate discussion). You’re making a huge leap here. I mean, sure, we can do both, but I do maintain that since, right now, the only success that we can guarantee from exploring space with our current tools is to gather knowledge, anybody who genuinely believes and is committed to the idea that we have a moral obligation to prolong the life of our species should be trying to save Earth right now.

slibhb 5y ago
> Acknowledging the fact that everything perishes, including humans, because we are not special, does not imply that there is nothing wrong with suicide Suicide remark aside, my overall argument was that "human life has no special value" is a pose. People value human life in a special way, including their own, for whatever reason, rational or not, and we know this by observing human behavior, including our own. > I mean, sure, we can do both, but I do maintain that since, right now, the only success that we can guarantee from exploring space with our current tools is to gather knowledge, anybody who genuinely believes and is committed to the idea that we have a moral obligation to prolong the life of our species should be trying to save Earth right now. Not only can we do both but we are. I'm not a Musk fanboy but I am glad that battery tech, solar, electric cars, and rockets are all being built. Also, due to politics, fixing problems on Earth is in some sense a harder problem than colonizing Mars. Whether or not a Mars colony survives, if we have the technology to try it, we can give it the old college try. Meanwhile, something as simple as a carbon tax is politically impossible.

slibhb 5y ago

> Acknowledging the fact that everything perishes, including humans, because we are not special, does not imply that there is nothing wrong with suicide Suicide remark aside, my overall argument was that "human life has no special value" is a pose. People value human life in a special way, including their own, for whatever reason, rational or not, and we know this by observing human behavior, including our own. > I mean, sure, we can do both, but I do maintain that since, right now, the only success that we can guarantee from exploring space with our current tools is to gather knowledge, anybody who genuinely believes and is committed to the idea that we have a moral obligation to prolong the life of our species should be trying to save Earth right now. Not only can we do both but we are. I'm not a Musk fanboy but I am glad that battery tech, solar, electric cars, and rockets are all being built. Also, due to politics, fixing problems on Earth is in some sense a harder problem than colonizing Mars. Whether or not a Mars colony survives, if we have the technology to try it, we can give it the old college try. Meanwhile, something as simple as a carbon tax is politically impossible.