I agree with you in saying that we cannot use colonisation of space as a way of controlling the world's current population problems. Nor can it be seen as a way to solve the many other woes that beset this planet. We do indeed need to find a way to manage our planet responsibly and protect it as best we can.
But I still support 'getting of this planet'. Not a way of solving, or even running away from the world's woes... it is a simple matter of 'offsite backups' and 'DR planning'.
You would not run a computer system without some way of restoring operation following a catastrophic failure... how much more important is humanity and human civilisation.
One day the earth WILL suffer a society destroying, or even extinction-level event. The options are many - from asteroids to massive vulcanism to nuclear holocaust to disease... It is a simple fact that most of the species that have existed on the earth are no longer with us.
By establishing a self-sustaining colony elsewhere you greatly increase the chance that humanity and human civilisation will survive.
It's not about being able to live in a 'star-trek' universe... it's about ensuring that all that humanity has striven for and created can continue into the future. It's about ensuring that the thoughts and works of Mozart, Tennyson, Leonardo DaVinci, Ghandi and all the billions of others who have worked to create something for the future will not in the long term have lived in vain.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with you in saying that we cannot use colonisation of space as a way of controlling the world's current population problems. Nor can it be seen as a way to solve the many other woes that beset this planet. We do indeed need to find a way to manage our planet responsibly and protect it as best we can.
But I still support 'getting of this planet'. Not a way of solving, or even running away from the world's woes... it is a simple matter of 'offsite backups' and 'DR planning'.
You would not run a computer system without some way of restoring operation following a catastrophic failure... how much more important is humanity and human civilisation.
One day the earth WILL suffer a society destroying, or even extinction-level event. The options are many - from asteroids to massive vulcanism to nuclear holocaust to disease... It is a simple fact that most of the species that have existed on the earth are no longer with us.
By establishing a self-sustaining colony elsewhere you greatly increase the chance that humanity and human civilisation will survive.
It's not about being able to live in a 'star-trek' universe... it's about ensuring that all that humanity has striven for and created can continue into the future. It's about ensuring that the thoughts and works of Mozart, Tennyson, Leonardo DaVinci, Ghandi and all the billions of others who have worked to create something for the future will not in the long term have lived in vain.