"Earth stuff" was bad phrasing on my part. The actual dichotomy is "naturally evolved systems" versus "designed systems". I might be an optimist, but I DO think

"Earth stuff" was bad phrasing on my part. The actual dichotomy is "naturally evolved systems" versus "designed systems". I might be an optimist, but I DO think designed systems can self-sustain in space. Not today- the tech isn't there yet - but soon. However, naturally evolved systems - like humans, non-bioengineered humans - I don't think will make it past a few generations, or, if you move a HUGE generation ship, a few thousand years. But it's always going to have a "use by" date without designed systems integrating with the naturally evolved systems. When it comes to ALIEN natural systems, all bets are off. Who the hell knows what happens when we interact with that - even super-duper-ultra-tech designed systems might not be able to correct in time if two completely alien biologies interact destructively. Curious though: what else was "magical thinking"? That's something I take pretty seriously - unless I'm doing it recreationally, which I am not - so I don't want to leave it hanging out for the universe to see.