Slashdot Mirror
Why We Need to Expand into Space
Zentropa writes "Why do humans need to explore and colonize space? To save the planet and our species, argues an opinion piece in Cosmos, an Aussie science magazine. It makes some good points from an angle you may not have previously considered; for example, it's in the universe's best interest to keep us around. We make things fun. 'So what if humans pass into history? It's not just a tragedy for us, but also one for nature. Without us, there is no one to witness its infinite beauty; no one to marvel at a sunset, revel in a view, or thrill to the breaking of a wave on a beach. As the late astronomer and author Carl Sagan once said, "we are a way for the universe to know itself". But we also deserve to continue because we have created things greater than ourselves. Not only scientific and engineering knowledge, valuable as this is -- we have also created new and beautiful ways to see the world through art, music, literature and performance.'"
Nothing wrong with expanding, but avoid exponential growth at all costs.
;-)
As Daniel Quinn has pointed out in his excellent novel "Ishmael", growing as a species is fine and dandy as long as you don't wage war on your surroundings.
Totalitarian agriculture (that's the term he uses for our way of life as a global culture, being totally dependent on the massive surplusses our food production yields) is the fire burning beneath our cultural cauldron, causing us to overrun the planet, its resources and most other species sharing it with us.
It's obvious this way of life is not sustainable in the long run by *any* ecosystem, be it planet earth or even the universe itself, as it results in a massive population growth (you first need massive food production surplusses in order to start and maintain exponential growth), so I'd suggest solving this problem first before we take it with us into space as a cultural meme. The solution could be to manage (and limit!) our food production in a meaningful manner to stop this exponential population growth.
Humanity is not exempt from ecological laws and causalities, even if our culture teaches us otherwise ("pinnacle of creation", anyone?
Check www.ishmael.org if you'd like to find out more about Dan's excellent books.
All the best, uwe
Ever wondered whats wrong with the world? http://www.ishmael.org/
The word is "romanticisation" ("z" optional in some English speaking territories).
you had me at #!
Those statements contradict each other. If you truly believe that our consciousness is just a property of the laws of the universe, then our consciousness is the universe's consciousness, and our agenda is the universe's agenda, and the universe therefore does have a value system.
I think people tend to have an innate knowledge to the contrary, that the universe, the natural world, is in itself inanimate -- even though life can manifest itself within it. And therefore, from the very first people capable of thought, we have always tended (correctly, I believe) to understand consciousness to be supernatural.
Stephen Hawking already said this, as noted here slashdot.org
The U.S. has made a strong attempt to keep military and civilian space programs separate. From the beginning, NASA was created as the civilian space program. There are undeniable technology overlaps and the US learned early on (Vanguard) that ignoring military equipment and technology was folly and would hold back the goals of the program. Except for a couple shuttle flights (which was at the same time a company could rent out a shuttle launch for their satellites), most everything has been public and decidedly civilian. This is in stark contrast to many of the other space programs in the world. Sputnik was a part of the R-9 ICBM program, and the chinese space program was an outgrowth of the Peoples Liberation Army. And surely the US military and intelligence services have been involved in space, but they are separate. Just take a look at congressional spending, you have 3 forms of space funding: NASA (Civilian), Military, and Black. Go ahead and bash the Military and Black budgets, but please make the distinction between NASA's civilian program and the military/intelligence stuff.