We made a mess of our planet. Should we do the same to others? Should man spread in the universe like cosmic rabbits?
definetly...and the faster Earth is done with, the faster we will be in space. This universe is ours and our weapons are our judgement/morality to instigate the essence of supremacy. Right is as wrong unless we say so, right is as left but other civilizations take a blow.
These are no either or options. Just because we are making a mess of our present planet does not mean that we will make a mess of other planets, or environments we move into. An optimist would hope we have learned from our errors here and will use more care and discretion in the future. The selective pressures that will exist on who can venture into those new environments will also have a marked effect on how we behave there. As will the need to be more aware, on an hourly basis, of the fragility of some of the environments we will inhabit.
The faster we mess up this planet...the faster we will get to space or fund space travel and the more chance of survival we have as a human race since expansion to space is our priority.
To see the stars... Exploring is in our psychological and genetic makeup. With the things we learn and the technologies that are advanced by space travel Man will learn to better themselves and there environment. We are still an infant society, we are just now realizing our impact on the Earth and coming to grips with the fact that we need to be responsible. It will take time, no one here will live to see the days ahead that may come to bare. We will however be more responsible with our new "toys" {other planets} because we will have no choice but to be careful and plan for every contingency. In so doing we will learn the needed lessons to repair the impact we have had on Earth.
Who says we haven't learned from our mistakes? We're making more effort now to restore the natural environment than we've ever done in the past - and the trend says that we will KEEP ON getting better at it. Attitudes like you've just expressed do no good at all - they are pessimistic and nothing more than gloom and doom outlooks. We are capable of much better things than wasted hand-wringing.
History is doomed to repeat itself. Mostly, because those who have learned their lessons die off. I see no reason why humans would be more respectful of other worlds than Earth.
Is that a reason for us not taking over other planets? Are we going to ruin it for someone else or something?
I say the hell with the rest of the universe. What's it ever done to deserve respect? Blown itself up? Big deal.
How do you know it made itself? And how do you know I can't make a drop of water. For indeed, I can. Just pop a hydrogen filled balloon with a match.
That doesn't make a water droplet at all because the water is formed when the hydrogen burns in the oxygen so all you have done is shown what water is made up of. Now make those materials, hydrogen and oxygen.
