by Sixstrings » Wed 05 Nov 2014, 18:12:46
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'W')e are marooned on spaceship earth.
Only if we choose to be.
Our species is no more marooned on earth than it was marooned in Africa. And there was climate change back then, too, and because we were just stuck in Africa *homo sapiens came very close to total extinction*.
Getting out of Africa and spreading across the planet ensured our survival as a species. Getting off earth and spreading outward does likewise.
Survival of, and continuation of our species is really our only reason for being that we can discern -- the same directive every other organism has -- it's our primary responsibility, to out compete everything else and spread as much as we can and ensure our survival as much as we can, and that means numbers, and that means branching out if our current habitat is all full.
It's an evolutionary imperative, we must do it.
We have to -- if nothing else, there are asteroids that hit the earth at regular intervals and wipe everything out and will wipe us out too, unless we divert it or have gotten off the planet.
And, climate change wipes species out, all through the planet's history.
And, even though an asteroid WILL take us out first, assuming it did not then eventually the sun goes red giant and will incinerate the entire planet. These are facts.
(not trying to scare anyone, the red giant sun is 7.5 billion years from now

. But we're actually overdue for a species-wiping asteroid. NASA is watching out for those, one could be discovered tomorrow for all we know.. we could get hit within years, or it could be 100,000 years from now but it's coming that is for sure we know that for sure.
So folks ought to support nasa, let's go ahead and go forward with the asteroid grabbing mission they've got planned. Let's keep advancing in space. It's important, we don't want to be idiot dinosaurs do we and get wiped about by a darn rock smashing into us, now that we are on the cusp of being able to stop that, right?
And think of all the other cuddly mammals on earth, they'll all be gone when the next big meteor hits -- now we can prevent that, or, we can let it happen and maybe insects get their turn at world domination.)