I think the only point when humans should seriously start colonising space is when humans are capable of properly taking care of one planet first. There's no point messing up so bad the planet takes a beating and then cavorting around on other worlds instead to dilute the problem temporarily. If the fundamentals are shaky it'll only scale up the problems over time. Then it'd be if the galaxy is messed up let's go invent psychohistory and use robots and telepaths to stop the dark age. I love space technology and the possibilities it offers, but would not entrust our solar system (and the galaxy for that matter) to humanity in its current state. Having a major proponent for space colonisation like Dr Hawking could definitely help develop the required science and tech though.
I recently got through the whole Babylon 5+Crusade+B5 movies video content and thankfully managed to get some of the books (which greatly expand the universe and answer many questions) and it got me thinking, as a writer what makes you prefer Hollywood/comic book writing which is fraught with production delays, messed up business heads, actor problems and editorial headaches over directly writing your stories into novels and having them adapted with some degree of screenplay control? Is it the satisfaction of crafting the audiovisual identity of your stories yourself or is there more to it? Also, thanks for making some of the best sci-fi of all time (educational too: the B5 pilot taught me the word ambassador when I was a kid, got me through a test back then).
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I think the only point when humans should seriously start colonising space is when humans are capable of properly taking care of one planet first. There's no point messing up so bad the planet takes a beating and then cavorting around on other worlds instead to dilute the problem temporarily. If the fundamentals are shaky it'll only scale up the problems over time. Then it'd be if the galaxy is messed up let's go invent psychohistory and use robots and telepaths to stop the dark age. I love space technology and the possibilities it offers, but would not entrust our solar system (and the galaxy for that matter) to humanity in its current state. Having a major proponent for space colonisation like Dr Hawking could definitely help develop the required science and tech though.
I recently got through the whole Babylon 5+Crusade+B5 movies video content and thankfully managed to get some of the books (which greatly expand the universe and answer many questions) and it got me thinking, as a writer what makes you prefer Hollywood/comic book writing which is fraught with production delays, messed up business heads, actor problems and editorial headaches over directly writing your stories into novels and having them adapted with some degree of screenplay control? Is it the satisfaction of crafting the audiovisual identity of your stories yourself or is there more to it? Also, thanks for making some of the best sci-fi of all time (educational too: the B5 pilot taught me the word ambassador when I was a kid, got me through a test back then).