It began as a thread about how we need to stop raping the environment and start being a bit more eco-conscious because otherwise it will all be gone soon, do you people think the scientists are fucking joking? They are not joking. This is dangerous stuff.
But then, somebody popped on to say something along the lines of “Yes, how can we even think about exploring space when we’ve got problems right here” and I’ve got no sympathy whatsoever with that sort of lame-ass moronic thinking. Did Marco Polo say “Hey, I would go to China but there is money to be made right here in Venice”? Did Queen Isabela say “Sorry, Chris, we’ve got problems we need to deal with right here in Spain”? Did Jacques Yves Cousteau say “I would go diving and invent scuba gear and all that, but gosh, there are just so many problems on dry land we have to deal with”?
We’re going. That’s all there is to it.
No, they did not. It is totally against the grain of human nature, not to mention economically suicidal, to say “I don’t think we’ll bother with this research because we can’t afford it and we’ve got bigger fish to fry.” Ever since we developed intelligence, and probably somewhat before that, because that’s what intelligence is all about, we have been moving forward, pursuing all lines of enquiry, moving outward in all directions.
Anyway, he wrote back and said “Hey, it’s big and empty and there’s nothing up there that we want which we can reach in less than a thousand years anyway,” and so I wrote back:
“The first colonists on Mars will be within our lifetimes, and I’m pushing 60. It’s that close. Our children will see colonies in space sprouting up like mushrooms, as the space elevator makes travel to and from more feasible, and mining operations are set up in the asteroid belt, thus relieving a lot of the pressure to dig up our own world and tear its guts out. Our grandchildren, if we are so blessed, will see the beginnings of terraforming Mars. Our great-grandchildren will see the first of the ark ships taking off for deep space. At every step of the way, science will be advanced and, as science is advanced, the chances for the survival of our planet and ourselves as a species are increased.”
I expect I’ve got the time line about right, but even if it takes 3 or 4 times that long, we’re still going to go. We are homo sapiens. It’s what we do.
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