Space....

[EricD]

If you had a chance to go into space, would you take the trip?

 

[AGXStarseed]

Possibly.

 

[Datura]

I suppose am a hypocrite. I believe that space exploration is integral. If our species wishes to survive into the far future we will at some point need to leave this planet and colonise extraterrestrial environments, especially when one considers the exponential growth of the human population and our ever increasing demand for energy and food.


I have heard it argued that we shouldn't waste time going into space because we can't even manage the planet we have. On the other hand; perhaps the best way to preserve Earth's biodiversity is to remove ourselves from this planet and set up somewhere that doesn't have life we can destroy. Unlike some, I really have no problem with the notion of "destroying" a lifeless environment for human benefit. Living on another planet might be "unnatural", but the human impetus to do so is nothing if not totally in line with human nature.


Having said that, I don't have any strong desire to go to space. It might be fun to go on a short trip to the moon, or low Earth orbit, but I just don't think there is much out there for me. I like Earth, with all of its diverse organisms and cultures. Baring the extremely unlikely prospect of stumbling across alien life - I just don't see how any alien world could be one ioda as fascinating as the rock we find ourselves on. As a bonus, I also happen to be quite well adapted to breathing this planet's atmosphere and tolerating its gravity.


Perhaps I'm a bit radical, but I also think it behooves us to do our best to seed the universe with life, and not merely human life. I think that we should load up capsules with a variety of extremophile microbes and fire them off to worlds that seem like they might be hospitable to life. Of course, one runs the slim risk of inadvertently wiping out (or severely altering) a native alien ecosystem. This is why the pods would be equipped with onboard sensors and routines to check for the evidence of life before releasing the specimens. If life is discovered then the system will automatically destroy the samples, much to the chagrin of any on-world xenobiologists.

 

[Bird]

No. I can't tolerate feeling trapped. I need to see the sky, and the ground. I need to be able to walk outdoors, and breathe and see birds and climb trees. I need at least the option of that.

 

[dkpfrog]

I too would not do well in space, i also have a hard to impossible time trying to watch space movies that are too realistic. Star trek is great, star wars, firefly, doctor who, great! Otherwise anything even close to Apollo 13 will make me really uncomfortable.

 

[heaven777]

how could you say no to this. i would totally do it.