Journal antirelic's Journal: Regarding Hawkins Ultimatum 2
Hawkins made a statement that the fate of humanity hangs on our ability to leave planet earth. He quotes a number of historical events which nearly wiped the human race from the pages of history. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the history of the world understands that the human race as it is will face an event that will wipe out our species once and for all. Or will it? Technically, humanity has survived since the very first moment of life. Every cataclysm, our ancestors have survived. KT extinction, survived; PT extinction; survived. Of course, we weren't in our current form but we did survive or else we wouldnt be here today, right? Who says our current form is our final form?
So I decided to read through the various replies, with my BS meter set to 3 or higher, and all I saw was BS. It really reads as a litany of the Left. Trash human beings for not being perfect in the ways that no one is perfect. Humans are "greedy", they watch "NASCAR", or some other type of disparaging comment. Really just recycled garbage from DailyKOS or MediaMatters. Very few posts discussed the legitimate challenges to Hawkins Ultimatum. The few that did were drowned out by Leftist rhetoric which is based on utopian fantasy. All boring and useless points.
Looking at the history of human migration, there are two primary factors, though both can arguably be linked together; persecution and/or need/want of resources. Unlike history, the move into space is many of orders of magnitude more difficult. In order to leave the safety of earth to go into space, the reward or the advantage gained would have to be substantial. Going into space for exploration or for science makes sense; it only affects dozens perhaps hundreds of people who are willing to make tremendous sacrifice. Without substantial advances in bioengineering, starting a colony on a remote earth like planet would require 10,000's of thousands of ordinary every day people to make a sustainable society. This would require a tremendous amount of resources and technology that currently does not exist. Human beings cannot exist in an isolated, monotonous state for years, much less the generations it would take to get to another solar system. The moral of this story is that we have not even begun to identify all the obstacles which stand between now, and a future where human beings travel amongst the stars.
I think Hawkins statement is not a denouncement of the human species, any particular philosophy, or NASCAR. Instead, I look at it as a challenge to thinking people to consider methods to further advance the welfare of humanity. To set our goals to beyond our imagination and to work for them for more than one generation, because more than one generation is counting on it.
HawkinG (Score:2)
Technically, humanity has survived since the very first moment of life. Every cataclysm, our ancestors have survived. KT extinction, survived; PT extinction; survived. Of course, we weren't in our current form but we did survive or else we wouldnt be here today, right? Who says our current form is our final form?
I can introduce you to some nice folks in Vegas who think exactly the same thing.
HawkinG
the why behind the what (Score:1)
I have a denouncement of a particular philosophy to make, which I'll get to in a sec.
I read TFA and Slashdot's summary of it, but I didn't do what you did and venture into the "discussions" here on Slashdot about it. I had been going into the general discussion areas here less and less, as I find it's pretty much as you described it -- not much besides Leftist tripe and bullying, and I would add nary an intelligent Leftists to be found anymore. But late last week everything of mine in participation of a dis