The devil you know or the devil you don't:-) On the other hand, if you choose not to subscribe to that particular interpretation of chaos theory, the potential for positive results to occur exists. While I'm willing to admit that we are far from a perfect people, and that in our drive to explore, we will inevitably make mistakes, I think that it's far too vague to suggest that these will be comparable to those we've already made (horrible or otherwise). Instead, if we assume the potential for human improvement exists, then we can posit that we are less likely to make the same mistakes we've already made. As a counter-argument, though, operation in an entirely foreign environment offers the potential for a wide-range of new problems and mistakes, many of which may be even more damaging than those we've made here. All in all, the only way to learn is by doing, and we can only do our best to remember the lessons that history has taught us to date.
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The devil you know or the devil you don't :-) On the other hand, if you choose not to subscribe to that particular interpretation of chaos theory, the potential for positive results to occur exists. While I'm willing to admit that we are far from a perfect people, and that in our drive to explore, we will inevitably make mistakes, I think that it's far too vague to suggest that these will be comparable to those we've already made (horrible or otherwise). Instead, if we assume the potential for human improvement exists, then we can posit that we are less likely to make the same mistakes we've already made. As a counter-argument, though, operation in an entirely foreign environment offers the potential for a wide-range of new problems and mistakes, many of which may be even more damaging than those we've made here. All in all, the only way to learn is by doing, and we can only do our best to remember the lessons that history has taught us to date.