Is mankind destined to be a space-faring civiliaztion?

Question

With the urge to be living on other planets and meeting alien life, is this just pipe dream or is it destiny for humans to reach the stars.

If so, what effect would we have on alien life if we encounter it, or if we colonize new worlds?

Answer 1

I certainly hope so. Staying on this one planet is far too risky for the survival of our species. An asteroid impact, a super virus, a severe climate shift any of a number of things could end our species. Not to mention that eventually our sun will burn out and, possibly, before that our galaxy looks to be on a collision course with another galaxy which probably wont bode well for us either. I think it's pretty obvious that it would be much safer if we were spread over a number of planets which would make any of those events wiping out our species far less likely to occur.

Having said that I can only hope that by the time we can actually colonize other worlds that we'll have outgrown our petty tribalistic tendencies or else we'll just end up fighting with one another on a new planet.

As to the effect we would have on other life--well, I'm not holding high hopes for that unless we get our act together. Looking at the history of our own planet it's pretty clear that encounters between two technologically different cultures usually ends badly.

Answer 2

I think the "prime directive" Gene Roddenberry layed out is the best bet, we need to be careful not to corrupt or infect their society or culture, nor allow contact to corrupt or infect ours. This is why a lunar base makes more sense than an earth orbiting space station, lifeforms or inanimate objects could be studied under quarrantine conditions rather than risk life on this planet. it also will be challenging to see if we can reach out to other planets before some nutjob destroys all life on this one, in which case it will be just as well for any other lifeforms in the universe that such a savage species is prevented from harming others. The flipside is will earth nations be able to share the moon, or Mars and beyond, or fight over them? I would be in favor of independence for all self-supportive colonies on other planet/moons provided they are not allowed to make war on one another. If we focused on space instead of armanents, we could be there by now.

Answer 3

Yes,

When our sun cools down, it will swell into a red giant engulfing mercury and venus. But even when the sun cools down, the sun is still very hot. Earth will be too close to the sun making life on earth imposible. That time, venturing into space might be our only chance of surviving. This sounds like science fiction, it is surely going happen but not in our lifetime, scientist predicts it may happen 5 billion years later.

Answer 4

Space exploration is necessary if we are going to get enough people off the planet to establish a viable breeding population before some disaster destroys Earth. This must be accomplished before we reach a point where the necessary resources can no longer be allocated. If we keep all our eggs in one basket (Earth) we will doom Humanity.

Answer 5

Yes. Destiny.The only alternative is extinction. Let's split this pop-stand and boogie before the next big rock hits...

As far as the aliens, if they don't dig our music, they'll love our beer, Big Macs, or just watching us argue endlessly amongst ourselves. A few bags of Reese's Pieces should clear the way to diplomacy with the alien critters...

Answer 6

It's that or die.

And.. yeah, we'ld probably try to kill Alien life or.. well, end up killing them anyway.

Answer 7

if we do not destroy ourselfs first or taken over as slaves or as food source, or whenever we can pull our collective heads out of our a***s !

Answer 8

If we hope to survive we had better be.