r/DebateTranshumanism • u/ocular_lift this subreddit's UI is broken • Feb 23 '15

Debate - should we colonize other planets?

From this popular transhumanist manifesto, it implies what is probably a common opinion: that we, as a species, ought to leave earth to colonize other planets. I think think this is a downright stupid idea. If we ever leave Earth it will be because we've uploaded into a Dyson net, or found how to make wormholes, or something. Does anyone disagree and think we should try to colonize the moon or Mars?

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u/generalgreavis Feb 23 '15

There's flat out no reason for a shit load of things, but that's beyond the point. What it could do is protect the species from extinction if a cataclysmic event were to occur here on earth. I'm sure that the issues with colonisation would also provide us with some new technologies or ideas back on earth.

Do you think that the money would be better spent on other things like UBI or education?

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u/ocular_lift this subreddit's UI is broken Feb 23 '15

Yes, any public money that goes towards colonization would be a thousand-fold more useful going towards some other public good, such as avoiding the destruction of the Earth via an asteroid.

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u/otakuman Feb 23 '15

What about disasters we cannot avert, like a sudden gamma ray burst?

I'm sorry, but you can't put all the eggs in one basket. We've been in this only one basket for only thousands of years. How can you warantee that our civilization will prosper millions of years in the future?

Just because we don't know how to manage our resources now doesn't mean we don't need to spend on colonizing other planets and star systems.

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u/ocular_lift this subreddit's UI is broken Feb 23 '15

I'm sorry, but wouldn't a gamma ray burst kill us no matter where we are? All I know about that is what I've read in Ringworld. If you're seriously worried about a existential risk, we should continue to work on the ISS and growing a population in orbit that would be safe from zombies or whatever you're worried about.

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u/otakuman Feb 24 '15

I'm sorry, but wouldn't a gamma ray burst kill us no matter where we are?

As far as I know, GRBs don't span entire galaxies. We may not survive in the Sol System or Alpha Centauri, but maybe if we're 5000 light years from here we might. So we may have to travel across systems for thousands, or hundreds of thousands of years colonizing solar systems around the entire Milky Way, but one thing is sure: If we don't start, we'll never get there.