Why thinking about migrating to other planets?

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by Saint, Oct 16, 2017.

  1. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    4,752
    This makes no sense to me, the earth is the best place to stay, we have to fix the problems caused by mankind,
    why try to escape to other planets?
    There is no other habitable planets than earth, the scientists just bull-shit.
    The reality is, we can only survive on the earth.
     
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  3. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Ever heard the expressions
    "Don't put all your eggs in one basket?"
    "Failure protection via redundancy "?
    "Offsite backups"?

    One virile virus or one ELE asteroid and the entire human race (not to mention biosystem) is toast.

    No amount of "fixing" can occur if there's nothing left to fix, and no one left to fix it.

    And what makes you think only mankind created problems? See above: asteroid hit. Also, Mars was once water-rich. No humans there turned it dry and barren.

    How about we exercise a bit of humility and not condemn the scientific community with personal opinions of "reality".
     
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  5. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    It's not scientists who want this, it's the corporations that stand to make lots of money from it.
     
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  7. Janus58 Valued Senior Member

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    Even if we fixed man-made problems, the Earth will only remain habitable for a limited time. Our Sun is evolving and getting warmer. Eventually the Earth will exit the "Goldilocks zone" around our own star. There could be another Mega volcanic event such as happened in the past that could scour the Earth nearly clean of life or some other event leading to the end of Earth as we know it.
    We don't know if there are any other planets out there on which we could live or if it's feasible for us to get to them, but it would be foolish not to to at least look. And even in the worse case scenario where the Earth is the only potential home for man, by looking for and learning about other planets, we might learn something about how to keep out own planet livable for a little longer.

    So many times you hear the argument of " why are we wasting our time with "Y" when we should be focusing our attention of solving problem "X". The problem with this is that we don't always know the direction that the solution of "X" will come from.

    It can be the equivalent of saying " Why are you wasting time studying bread molds when there are sick people out there that need help."
     
  8. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    Extinction of human beings does not mean it will evolve a new and better species than homo sapiens.

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  9. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Uh. Correct.
    I think...

    Extinction of humans certainly means humans won't evolve into something new...
     
  10. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Longer than the average lifespan of a species.
    Long before that the moon will break up and destroy everything.
    I'm all for studying other planets and moons, just not colonizing them. I think it's highly premature.
     
  11. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Humans hope to be around longer than "average".

    I have not heard of this hypothesis. Elaborate?

    How do you mean premature? Are you saying we shouldn't even begin understanding what it would require? What has to transpire before we decide we should start figuring it out?
     
  12. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    "The Sun's mutation into a red giant provides a huge stumbling block to the Moon's getaway and is likely to ensure the Moon ends its days the way it began; as a ring of Earth-girdling debris.

    "The density and temperature both increase rapidly near the apparent surface (photosphere) of the future giant Sun," Willson explained. As the Earth and Moon near this blistering hot region, the drag caused by the Sun's extended atmosphere will cause the Moon's orbit to decay. The Moon will swing ever closer to Earth until it reaches a point 11,470 miles (18,470 kilometers) above our planet, a point termed the Roche limit.

    "Reaching the Roche limit means that the gravity holding it [the Moon] together is weaker than the tidal forces acting to pull it apart," Willson said.

    The Moon will be torn to pieces and every crater, mountain, valley, footprint and flag will be scattered to form a spectacular 23,000-mile-diameter (37,000-kilometer) Saturn-like ring of debris above Earth's equator. The new rings will be short-lived. Theory dictates they'll eventually rain down onto Earth's surface"

    https://www.space.com/3373-earth-moon-destined-disintegrate.html

    (I was wrong about the timing, the Earth will be roasted in the same era.)

    We certainly have delusions of grandeur.
    I'm sure some level of research is appropriate, but far more can be learned about space from robots. We could start by making a self-sustaining colony on Earth, maybe Antarctica. The idea that we can live somewhere in the solar system without the Earth as a sort of guarantee of immortality is ridiculous.
     
  13. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    4,752
    If you are an atheist,life happened by chance, why do you bother about human extinction?
     
  14. sweetpea Valued Senior Member

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    Off topic. '' Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology'''. Ho, sorry I forgot this is sciforums dot com.
    If you are a god believer, why bother about human extinction and curing people's illnesses, if it is the will of a god?
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2017
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  15. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    That means life is even more rare and wonderful. Of course, I don't care about ultimate human extinction, because change is part of life. What lives we may not call human. Perhaps we will kill ourselves long before we die a natural death, that seems more likely.
     
  16. Janus58 Valued Senior Member

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    It's an evolutionary trait. Species that don't develop a strategy aimed towards maintaining the longevity of their species tend to be out-competed by species that do. Some species do this by just having lots of offspring, while others do it by caring for the next generation, like we do. Humans, with their greater intelligence have (in most cases), extended this further down the line, and to include a general sentiment towards the survival of the species itself.
     
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  17. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Yeah. At that point, the Moon will be the least of ours problems.


    While true, that wasn't really the point.

    Why?

    Sure, not now. But if we don't start, then when do we start?
     
  18. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    "Face reality. If planet Earth goes, so does humanity. It’s the end. Game over. Putting a few of our people in a self-imposed space zoo does not save the species, it only prolongs the agony briefly. If you really care about the problems facing humanity, and are thinking extremely long term, you have to appreciate that a species is part of a larger system that must be maintained."

    Biologist P.Z.Meyers
     
  19. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Surely you are not putting this forth as any kind of logical argument. There's no argument here, merely unsupported rhetoric.

    Theatrical. He gets to state his opinion, not reality.

    Baseless (and redundant) rhetoric.

    Unsupported rhetoric.

    A truism. Humans won't survive long-term indoors. We need an ecology.

    Who said otherwise??



    Having analyzed this guy's rather theatrical opinion, I conclude that it is a red herring in this discussion. He is clearly talking about his space zoos - whatever they are. He is not talking about colonizing another planet. This thread is about colonization.
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2017
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  20. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    What is an off-world colony but an indoor habitat?
     
  21. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    But also a valid warning.
    Did the dinosaurs become magically extinct or was their demise caused by a global event?
     
  22. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    4,752
    How long can you live?
    Just live your life now and die peacefully.
    Migrate to other planet is impossible.
     
  23. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    It is a long view. Yourchildren will grow up on a new planet.
     

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