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Why We Need to Expand into Space

Posted by Zonk on from the earth-that-was-could-no-longer-sustain-our-numbers dept.

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.'"

4 of 460 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Benefit or detriment? by moderatorrater · · Score: -1, Troll

    Ten Thousand Years Of Killing, Just Because People Are Being Told The Other Is Different I would have assumed from your sig that you are against hating a segment of the population that's different without thinking about whether or not they might be right, but from your post it looks like you endorse it.
  2. Re:Enough. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    until we can eradicate behaviour like this from society I really don't think we should be spreading out.

  3. Re:Enough. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    How does putrid garbage like this get modded up? If it wasn't for all the vulgarity, then this post would be devoid of meaning. Is this what is considered a well thought out argument these days? Well, maybe on Fox News. My next stop is checking if /. has a filter-by-word setting.

  4. Re:Benefit or detriment? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I agree that is an odd point-of-view. However, I do not think it is hatred per se. More of a, "we could be so much more," perhaps. During the cold war, the Soviet Union ran psychological warfare operations that promoted dissatisfaction with society in the West, even when such dissatisfaction wasn't particularly ideological or anti-capitalist. It was felt that general dissatisfaction would lead to socialist revolution, or at least disrupt western society in a way that would be advantagous to the Soviets.

    Even though the Soviet Union collapsed, the psywar memes they promoted still exists, in those of all ideologies, but particularly with those on the left. However, since there isn't really a popular utopian political movement like Marxism to attract large amounts of dissatisfied any more, and since the West is no longer ideologically capitalist, the meme manifests itself as a general ennui and anti-human anti-technology anti-society attitude.