Space Expansion or Stagnation

Humans are fascinating creatures and we have spent millenia studying and researching ourselves. Yet, even with all of those years of study, of research, we still do not fully understand the complexities of our own being. What's more, we have only touched on the foundation of creating life. To think that we, as far as we know, are the only ones in the universe able to produce the trillions of molecular machines that are specific to our biology, is both astounding, and frightening.

There are countless issues with our world that, if left unattended, will force us into stagnation. I have come to believe that the only possible way for the human race to continue it's existence is to colonize a second planet. The only planet within our capabilities of doing so on such short notice, is Mars. Mars has water, clear signs of what used to be riverbanks and a dormant volcano that is approximately the size of Arizona and it even has a twenty-four hour day!. Some time in the past, Mars was obviously similar to the condition of pre-historic Earth. What a blessing it is to have a colonizable planet with two moons so close to our own. Wouldn't you agree?

Massive boosts in the research of both Terra-forming and space travel within the past 40 years is due to people like Sagan, Boston, Zubrin and Cox. But it is not enough. Projections for a colony on mars have been set around 2050 to 2075. It isn't soon enough, we should be there by 2025-2035 and it's highly possible to accomplish this task if space programs were given enough money for the research and materials required. Why so soon? Because the earlier we get there, the more Terra-forming we do and the larger colonies we build up, the higher chance of survival we have in this vast, beautiful, but highly risky and extremely dangerous universe.

Some say we should first colonize our moon, but I think that's ridiculous. Our moon has no atmosphere, no soil, no breathable oxygen (Scientists estimate that about 50% of the moon's surface composition is oxygen but it is bound up in silicate minerals.) and most importantly, no protection from solar wind. Sure we can build a massive structure out of heavy, thick material to protect human beings from solar wind and the dangers of space exposure, but that is a complete waste of resources. If the conditions on Earth become unlivable, we would not be able to sit on the moon for a few hundred thousand years waiting for the conditions to correct themselves. Breathable oxygen would have to be moved back and forth from the Earth. Which would require resources that the moon cannot provide us with. What would give us a better chance of survival if the conditions on Earth are no longer livable, Mars, or Luna? The answer is obvious: Mars.

Mars would be the birth of technological wonders, imagine the efficiency a brand new planet would have with the advancements we've made. The reason we're so inefficient today is not because we do not have the technology to increase our efficiency tenfold, but because it's unimaginably expensive to completely re-do the infrastructure of our Earth, or even a Country for that matter.

Check out this article to find out about what we would have to do terra-form Mars. In short, we might use super greenhouse gases to warm the planet up to the point where it would be comfortable for humans to live in. This would melt the ice, releasing oxygen with extremely low impurities that has been trapped for centuries, creating water as well as a thick atmosphere and ozone layer, which would protect us against harmful ultra-violet radiation. The best part is we could remove and condense the greenhouse gases from our very own Earth, cooling it (Which it needs desperately!) and making life on Earth less at risk of stagnation. With the technology we have now, this would require about a hundred years to accomplish. Researches know that we are getting undeniably close to having the ability to Terra-form other planets, if they were funded properly as Boston pointed out earlier this year, we could accomplish this within 15 years.

Our eyes have been taken off what has always been most important to our species, the acquisition of knowledge and understanding of how the universe works. Throughout the dark-ages our eyes were shut to the universe because of corrupt religious institutes, now that we have begun again at last to question our origins and explore space, we must not repeat the mistakes of the past. There are still the problems of back-contamination and Martian dust storms but these are minor threats compared to what we have already overcome as a species and with our "soaring intelligence" as Carl Sagan put it, we can overcome these threats like any other we have before, through logic and determination.

We are still using a transport as inefficient, dangerous and costly as rocket-powered shuttles. The Large Hadron Collider will advance our understanding of the deepest and most fundamental laws of nature and with the knowledge and understanding we will gain from the experiments conducted, I imagine it would be very easy to create a new source of vast energy. All scientists would need is a paltry sum of money when compared to the earnings of every first-world nation to increase their research speed ten-fold. I also believe that once we colonize another planet, others after it will be much easier to settle, as we will have a greater understanding of how to do so. As the common saying goes: The first million is the hardest.

As Robert Zubrin put it: "One either decays or one grows, I say we should grow."

If we do not start the process of expanding into space, our species will die out. Do you think so as well? Or do you think that we will be able to solve all of the issues that we are only now realizing our planet has? Or do you think some mythical wizard in the sky will sweep us off our feet into heaven?

I believe in the Mass Effect mythos. We just need to find some Prothean artifacts and we'll be on our way to dominating the Galaxy.

Besides that, I doubt any human has the correct knowledge on what our ultimate destiny is, be it metaphysical or otherwise.

And why does everyone call God a wizard? They are totally different levels of power here... It must be because of the beard thing.

I truely believe that we will wipe our selves out with biological weapons. or when some dumb ass scientist thinking he's clever accidentaly rips a hole in the universe.

Mass Effect was cool and all, but this is reality. Our solar system is on the outer edge of our Galaxy, we were ejected from the core at a very early point in our galaxy's creation. This means that there's a high chance Humans are one of the most advanced species in our Galaxy. So I wouldn't be expecting any technological wonders from other species being found anytime soon

I would agree with you if I believed in the concept of destiny. We have knowledge on the possible actions we can take in the universe, the outcomes can only be predicted to a certain degree. Thanks to technology and math, we can make fairly accurate predictions.

Magic: Any art that invokes supernatural powers

Wizard: A fictional character who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources.

The author decides whether a wizard's power is finite or not, God's author is the human mind.

He or she or whatever it is sounds a lot like a wizard to me.

Yeah I was just joking but you never know. The number of different variables in the evolution of a species and the amount of stars in a galaxy means that there could be a galatic empire out there and we'll never meet each other in a million year if ever at all.



Clarify - you say that we can only predict things to a certain degree, but that it can also make accurate predictions? You tout and deny the potential of science at the same time.

Also, just because you have the ability to shape your own destiny doesn't your destiny doesn't exist.



Difference is that a God would be omniscient, or all knowing and all seeing - the very concept of existence their's to control and their own existence being born from themselves. A wizard with that kind of power would be considered a god.

But whatever floats your boat.

Mmk. So. In direct response to the first question/issue posited: yes. We need to get out into the solar system and flex our cultural and intellectual muscle. Exploration has been an integral part of humanity since civilization started. We NEED to go beyond lunar orbit, and the sooner the better. However, the faster we go, the higher the cost (I hope that link worked the way I wanted it to work...).

We need people that are willing to spend the rest of their days cut off from the rest of the planet. I don't know how much discovery/science channel you watch, but they are already doing experiments on long-term missions using places like some crazy islands in the middle of nowhere. They'll put 3-5 people there for months with all the equipment they'll need, give them research missions, and have a 23 minute communication delay just like a station on Mars would. Now, these are experiments where the mission is to go and come back.

What we need is to just go, and pave the way for the rest of the world. I think we'd be able to find those people, especially because I'd be one of them. I'm only 20, but traveling to another planet is a dream of mine. I'm certain they can find many like-minded people to go with me. :)

I agree with you completely on more research funding, I'm learning the ropes of Geology right now, and love all things science. But the facts are, stuff like we want won't happen at this juncture. Not without a radical change in ideals and ways of thought of the majority of the country(USA)/world, or a radical president or some crazy stuff like that.

I don't think that we'll just completely die out as a race if we don't start exploring more, but as I said, exploring is an integral part of human nature. Yes, there are chances of major cosmic disasters befalling us, but Mars has an equal chance in those things as well. As to us ruining our planet, as a scientist, I know better than most the uncertainty in our future. We don't know how these changes will effect the Earth. From what we can tell, these changes won't be good, but we still just don't know exactly what will happen. CO2 levels (in PPM) are 100 over what they've been at the highest levels of the last 3 ice ages and beyond that (the highest being 280, lowest around 200, if I remember correctly. We're at 380 now from the past couple hundred years of industry).

As to Neko-chan's comment about clarification, we can only predict things we have equations for. And even then, many of these models are what we call 'chaotic': they have an extreme dependence on initial conditions, an depending on how close we can get all of the initial conditions, the predictions will diverge from reality at a certain point in the future. Most people don't realize how huge and complex these equations are, how many variables are in them.

With regards to the destiny thing, destiny is a predetermined fate set out for a person or people. No matter what, if destiny exists, they cannot escape from it. Merely by 'changing' destiny, or 'taking their destiny into their own hands', people will disprove destiny, as there are no longer any pre-determined events for them; or they are different. With every different decision, people change their path into the future, into many different possibilities.

As Doc Brown said: "Your future hasn't been written yet. No one's has! Your future is whatever you make it."

I said fairly accurate, not just accurate, there is a difference. I can see how you would've gotten that if I had just said accurate. I was repeating myself to get the point across.



Yes, but colonizing two planets theoretically doubles the chances of our species' survival against cosmic disaster in the universe.

I would like note that a belief in predetermination is directly causal to stagnation.

Droomy: In the far future when there is a respectable population of both planets, yeah, I can see that. But in the next few hundred years where the population there (if any at all) would be negligible, if something were to befall the Earth, the Mars outpost would be... well.. screwed. I'm sure they'll have some form of self sufficiency, and while I'd like to think that they'd pull through, the emotional shock would probably screw people up pretty bad, leading to a snowball effect destroying the social structure of the outpost. A few people kill themselves, stuff like that, people get more and more disheartened, and blam. There goes the whole thing. But I dunno, I'm no psychologist. On the other hand, like I said up top, once the whole planet is terraformed and inhabited by a large population (in the very far future), the chances would be doubled.

You also have to think about the opportunities elsewhere for outposts. There are multiple moons of Jupiter and Saturn that could harbor outposts, however cold they may be.

Magosis: Excellent point.

Ha ha ha! If such a thing as fate or destiny existed, what'd be the point? You're gonna do it anyways! And you look familiar, Droomy. So hey, what are you proposing we do? Donate money to NASA? Lead a revolution that will sort all the corruption out of everywhere? Whatever it is, I ain't leading it.

I do believe that we need to expand in order to survive and resist stagnation. Humanity has already started showing signs of stagnation. We showed such promise in the beginning of the 20th century. We created combustion engines. Discovered the secret of flight. Discovered the insides of the atom. Split the atom. Discovered jet propulsion. Created computers. The list goes on an on. We even landed on the Moon. But what happens after that? Humanity's longing for discovery started to decline. Sure, we know more now than we did then but if that is so, why haven't we left the cradle of our planet? We now so much. Enough to get us to Mars and make a new world for us there. So why are we still here? First it was supposed to be the Moon and then Mars before the year 2000. What happened to all that? Now we are afraid to even leave Earth's orbit. I'm sorry if what I am saying seems a little contradicting or off topic, but I'm just writing what I think here.

actually the most likely senario is the colapse of the monatary system and society.. since most people have become entirely relyant on those two things for their survival... they wont survive... the few who do remain will either learn to addapt or will die out as well

I think that when people really start feeling the effects of their stupidity and shit, actions will begin. There will probably be some panic, but I dont think there is a need to leave the Earth. All we need to do is kill some people off or find a way to stop global warming and pollution and all that other crap

I agree. With both, actually. But the former is more likely to happen than the latter.

even if we do happen to find some artifact akin to Prothean bits, what makes you think that the group/individuals who found it would give it to scientists for the betterment of mankind? same mentality applies to scientists as well.

human beings are too greedy and too violent to leave earth. we cant exactly perfect space travel technology when we are too busy killing each other off.

For how many billions? There are issues on Earth that we could do with solving first, and the international problems with any such extra-planetary base would be monumental, both in terms of its occupation and the efforts into its research and establishment. It'll be a free day in China before we have the manpower or political clout.

Personally I think it is just as much environmentalism dogma-like propaganda that spells our inevitable doom. Don't get me wrong, we humans are devastating this planet, but I personally don't believe we are fast approaching, nor already past, the point of no return. Yeah steps aren't really being taken fast enough, but slowly we just might manage to clean up our act and the Earth won't suffer an irreversible fate.

Ironically enough I'm a huge Trekkie (avid fan of Star Trek) and a fan of Star Wars, but in reality I think this fascination with space travel is doing well to have died down as much as it has in the last couple of decades. For one the technology just isn't there yet. We're making a lot of mistakes that could have been avoided if we didn't just rush into space. Besides, we have enough we don't understand about our own planet. Keep your nose to the ground for just a few seconds instead of looking out to the stars and you might just find something new right in front of you.

The only space-related project I'd like for us to stay involved in relates to the mapping of near-Earth related space rocks such as asteroids. And perhaps even go as far as to modify the old SDI into a form of anti-space junk counter measures. There have been several near misses in just our lifespans alone. Scary, really.