Will humans colonize outter space before we destroy ourselves?

After reading the post about India producing the smallest nuclear weapon the size of a tennis ball the thought hit me, are humans going to be able to leave the planet and disperse before we destroy ourselves? We a constantly advancing in technology, however a large proportion of that development goes towards finding new ways to kill each other, as opposed to more noble pursuits like venturing into space and even colonizing exo-planetary systems. I feel at the moment our tech is far to powerful for such a large concentration of idiots and the scales seem to be leaning closer towards an end with space colonization out of sight.

So, what do you think? This is not just about current politics, maybe it is just far easier technologically to destroy things then it is to travel space?

Also I appreciate either way our beautiful planet would likely see an ugly end, but this is just focusing on our species.I am not being specific towards our generation by the way, either situation may happen 1000's of years from now, the question is which will be first?

It is a race isn't it. Currently, my money is on NO. We seem to be heading full speed ahead for destroying ourselves. I hope I'm wrong though.

reply to post by voudon


I have heard it said...that colonization on other planets has already begun (in secret) ...(TPTB) in secret.. are doing this. I have 3 words for you...(connections and money).

Several years ago I lived in Reno, NV...and there were underground rumors going around that for the right price..(1 million dollars)...a person, or persons could meet at a certain very secretive location in the desert and go for a ride into outer space.

I personally think that these things may very well be going on.

Is there any tangible proof? I think that there is...where to find it...I really don't know; but I bet you someone like Edward Snowden would know where to find the proof.

I always say the most noble pursuit is that of space. Space is literally the final frontier, for those of you out there that believe that we are the only intelligent beings in this universe think about this. If we are in fact alone, then isn't it our responsibility to spread throughout the cosmos and keep consciousness alive? If we only would put our world affairs to the side and came together we would be able to reach the stars, i strongly believe the only way to reach the stars is together with resources shared, but that seems impossible with the way our world is. We divide ourselves by color, race, region, and economic standing but we are all HUMAN, if everyone really hates eachother so much come together get to space then everyone can find a planet and go there separate ways lol. Technology is so advanced and we have the capability to continue that advance, its just about where we focus our efforts, and unfortunately we usually focus them in the wrong places.

reply to post by voudon


I Think that has been the plan the whole time, and possibly the reason why we are here now, we left someplace and came to earth. When you think about the entireity of our forgotten history, and civilizations, and the implications of the small minute fragments we have left of said history/civilizations its entirely possobile our dna is not entirely native to this earth. I hope we colonize another place as much as i love my home, i want to see what the final frontier has to offer and maybe when my kids are grown i can get a mining job on a space rock and be part of a new intergalactic colony, (as long as there's beer and medicinal herbs)

No, we will not be able to colonize in time. Avoiding the extraordinarily grim projections that have been made by some very serious entities, it would take about a thousand years to terraform a planet (ie Mars) to make it habitable. Greenhouse type structures could be used but even that tech is decades off, if not 100's of years off but I think that they are working out how to do such a thing. I know that when I was a kid in the gifted program in the 70's, one of the questions that they asked was pertaining to what one would take with them to Mars. Before you scoff, just know that NASA is a player in the gifted program curriculum. Kind of funny but they still ask the gifties that question and it's a full project: mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

Technology wise, we are still a very long way off from colonizing even our closest planet. It's also why the presence of water is so important on Mars as melting the ice on Mars is an idea for terraforming. The other thing that is done is looking for nearby earth-like planets. However, that one is more likely looking for signs of life elsewhere and less to do with actually colonizing as there are significant health issues associated with long term space travel ranging from cancers, gamma ray exposure, bone depletion, and more. Mars would be our best hope in terms of colonizing another planet and that is still decades and decades off--if not hundreds of years. Based on the grim stuff, the better bet would be saving our own planet.

Originally posted by adamkgonz
I always say the most noble pursuit is that of space. Space is literally the final frontier, for those of you out there that believe that we are the only intelligent beings in this universe think about this. If we are in fact alone, then isn't it our responsibility to spread throughout the cosmos and keep consciousness alive? If we only would put our world affairs to the side and came together we would be able to reach the stars, i strongly believe the only way to reach the stars is together with resources shared, but that seems impossible with the way our world is. We divide ourselves by color, race, region, and economic standing but we are all HUMAN, if everyone really hates eachother so much come together get to space then everyone can find a planet and go there separate ways lol. Technology is so advanced and we have the capability to continue that advance, its just about where we focus our efforts, and unfortunately we usually focus them in the wrong places.

Agreed, space seems like the perfect goal to bring humanity together. Perhaps, if enough nations were to advance technologically, Western powers might be over shadowed by new super powers who are far more liberal about sharing resources and pursuing space in joint efforts. I guess it would certainly require a large portion of the top super powers at the time to make the space colonization possible otherwise other nations would just abuse the a perceived weakness in security spending.

reply to post by voudon


Are we really interested in colonizing outer space?

We don't even have a moon base or honest NASA program for leaving the planet. How is a piece of junk space station and a now defunct shuttle program going to help.

The Mars mission and a glorified go cart rover should help though...

We don't even have enough money to fix our infrastructure like potholes, bridges and an aging electrical grid.
But we have plenty of money to develop newer and more efficient ways to kill each other in war....

Does that answer your question?

I doubt if we even make it to 2050.

reply to post by WhiteAlice


I am not focusing to much the colonization of another planet, even just a self cultivating space station type civilization that can function independently without trips to and from Earth. The interesting thing is you never know when the next big discover will occur, our current understandings of science may very well be torn to shreds by one major discovery in my opinion.

Then again military are usually further ahead technologically as people have pointed out so again we tip further in that ending scenario. I hate the idea of the only survivors being the same people who actively played a role in destroying civilization.

reply to post by olaru12


Remember we are talking potentially hundreds, maybe thousands of years before either occurs so circumstances might change. In fact I doubt fixing potholes would even be an issue considering humans would likely be flying around by 2100, well I hope in my lifetime.

reply to post by voudon


The problem with looking to the military for this is that the military budget and NASA's are two very different things. It wasn't that long ago that the military donated two of their spy telescopes to NASA that surpassed what Hubble could do. They are two completely different entities. The DoD budget is around 52% of the discretionary spending budget while NASA's is about 2%.

2011 discretionary spending pie chart: i.imgur.com...

So while the idea that the technology is 20 years in advance is true for the military, it doesn't hold true for NASA. NASA is the little brother that gets all the hand-me-downs.

thetechjournal.com...

Permanent colonization in space without some form of gravity is precisely the issue that we have not been able to overcome. The effects of living in space on the members of the ISS are pretty extreme. Living "off planet", so far, is not an option and you can't stick 7 billion people into such a thing. We'd become Hardin's lifeboat.

You know, I think the technology that will enable space colonization and travel will be of the magnitude that when weaponized, could destroy all (or most) of us.

Perhaps I am wrong on that, but the edges get sharper the more we work on the double edged sword of technology.

In that way, I think they will essentially go hand in hand. An either/or scenario where the current technology allows us to do one or the other, but not both.

Sometimes I wonder if its a process that has happened on this planet before.

reply to post by Serdgiam


Interesting, it is also possible that we could destroy ourselves from a non weaponised attempt at space exploration too. We do a great job at destroying the Earth through extracting resources etc so I guess those factors also greatly reduce the positive outcome further. It does not seem to be looking good, maybe we need some outside intervention to get us on the right track.

reply to post by voudon

reply to post by olaru12

 

Remember we are talking potentially hundreds, maybe thousands of years before either occurs so circumstances might change. In fact I doubt fixing potholes would even be an issue considering humans would likely be flying around by 2100, well I hope in my lifetime.

edit on 24-7-2013 by voudon because: (no reason given)

I think you missed my point. If we don't even care enough to improve the planet we are on; Where will the impetus come from to "go where no man has gone before" ?

We don't even care about getting off fossil fuels and exploring alternative power sources. If we last until 2100 we will be riding camels because all the oil will be long gone.

Originally posted by voudon
reply to post by Serdgiam

 

Interesting, it is also possible that we could destroy ourselves from a non weaponised attempt at space exploration too. We do a great job at destroying the Earth through extracting resources etc so I guess those factors also greatly reduce the positive outcome further. It does not seem to be looking good

Thats a possibility! But, if history is any indicator, it will be advancements in efficiency that allow for such things. Meaning, what we do take out will be used more effectively.

Either way, it is up to all of us what way it goes if that time comes.

maybe we need some outside intervention to get us on the right track.

Maybe, but I am not sure of how successful such an intervention would be if we are not willing and trying to help ourselves.

Originally posted by olaru12
reply to post by voudon

 

reply to post by olaru12

 

Remember we are talking potentially hundreds, maybe thousands of years before either occurs so circumstances might change. In fact I doubt fixing potholes would even be an issue considering humans would likely be flying around by 2100, well I hope in my lifetime.

edit on 24-7-2013 by voudon because: (no reason given)

I think you missed my point. If we don't even care enough to improve the planet we are on; Where will the impetus come from to "go where no man has gone before" ?

We don't even care about getting off fossil fuels and exploring alternative power sources. If we last until 2100 we will be riding camels because all the oil will be long gone.
they have found vast reserves of oil in australia and alaska the oil will not run out even the 36 billion barrels we take out of the earth a year .

old wells that were thought to be empty are filling up again .

but back on track i hope humans do not get far from earth as we do not deserve it the way we have behaved in the last 2000 years alone .

Originally posted by Gazrok
It is a race isn't it. Currently, my money is on NO. We seem to be heading full speed ahead for destroying ourselves. I hope I'm wrong though.

Leave it to Gaz to look at the bright side! I hope you are wrong to!


OP:
Personally I do not think we will completely ever wipe out humans unless it is by an ELE. I think we have been here before many time and will be again unless we can get past greed and money.

reply to post by voudon


It's a tough question.

On one hand, we really love to kill each other. Fortunately, given certain massive potentials for killing each other in the millions, we seem to be proving that we don't like killing each other as much as history and even current events would seem to imply.
It would also seem quite a bit of this must-kill-everyone attitude arises out of less than civilized cultures.
First World cultures are usually in the roles of respondent participants in these modern forays of violence.

On the other hand, we've a certain progressive march of technology.
Technological singularity, the advent of Artificial Intelligence, true AI as smart as or smarter than human intelligence capable of designing even smarter more capable systems is just around the corner.
Will true AI become the babysitter humanity seems to need, helping us to reach that next level in our own self-directed evolution?

If we can overcome intellectual escape velocity, and not fall prey to idiocracy in allowing our machines to take care of us if ever we reach a point where machines can effectively and responsibly self manage and do so for us as well, then we might have a chance of getting off planet.
Certainly AI, if ever given legal autonomy, mobility and means to achieve any devices towards its own ends would calculate the wisdom in getting off planet, possibly in partnership with its biological parents (us).

I'd certainly love to see us get off this rock.

reply to post by voudon


We will never leave Earth in human form, but I can see us shooting capsules of DNA out into space in the hopes it will find a suitable planet to evolve back into human and animal form. Might take a few hundred million years of space travel to reach the stars, but right now it's our only viable option.

The first step is the privatization of space. That has to happen first. Once there for a couple of decades, I think we'll see tourism to the Moon, then Mars. To go out of the solar system though, we're going to have to come up with some kind of technological revolution, as our current drive ideas just aren't going to cut it. Maybe if we find some extra-solar Earth, that we confirm has water, etc., and we make a multi-generational trip, but otherwise, we're quarantined in our own solar system.