Would you move to outer space?

[cynatnite]

After reading this:

Professor Hawking hinted at his own view on the matter in a speech in Hong Kong last month. To survive future disaster on Earth, the human race must jump ship and set up home on a celestial neighbour, provided, of course, scientists can work out how to make it habitable.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1815754,00.html?gusrc=rss

Sounds like an interesting question to ask.

[Mythsaje]

1. He may be right...

and, honestly, I don't think the possibility we've already done it once isn't out of the question.

I voted maybe. I don't know if I'd leave, but I'd damn sure groom my children to go, should the option become available and necessary.

[laura888]

2. Not an option.

We are tied to the earth at the molecular level. Think about how you feel when you walk down the street, breathing the aroma of trees, how you feel when you sit on the beach at sunrise.

And why SHOULD we adapt - because we couldn't get our act together?

[cynatnite]

6. That sounds more sentimental than molecular...

Sure, with fresh air trees smell good and on a beautiful day the sunrise is very refreshing. Those are nice, but not essential to our survival.

But with a planet that is dying a slow death we should look for ways to perpetuate our race...hopefully be a better race than we are now so we don't wreck the next home we've got.

[laura888]

10. Can you live in a life-less desert?

With an oxygen tank strapped to your back?

Humans are geared to live amongst other living plants and animals. We thrive when we are near water. When we die, our remains mingle with those of other dead plants and animals and minerals.

Our short time in space (despite all of the TV shows and movies), is no indication that we can make it out there.

[cynatnite]

19. Humans do have an ability to adapt...

I don't think we're so tied to this rock that we couldn't live elsewhere. Besides, there is nothing to say that there aren't other planets fully capable of supporting human life. We really don't know that.

Technology can evolve to the point where people can live on other planets and on space stations that isn't a metal box or spinning donut. It all depends on the individual who makes the choice. Some would prefer to stay on Earth while others would jump at the chance.

[Cooley Hurd]

29. OT, but your post reminded me of the movie "Robinson Crusoe on Mars"

[Warren DeMontague]

36. There's quite probably liquid water on Europa right now.

Who knows where we could adapt to? You want to talk about "life"? What does life DO? It expands. It colonizes. It fills every available niche and then moves into new ones. There is life in volcanoes, in places in the oceans we never dreamed possible just a decade ago. There may be single-celled life in asteroids. Hell, life may have developed on Mars origianlly, and moved here billions of years ago.

Life spreads out-- That's what life does. And to stay here indefinitely, on only one planet, is to doom ourselves. Notwithstanding pressing, immediate environmental concerns, sooner or later another big asteroid will hit the Earth a la the Chixclub impact that did in the dinosaurs in (particularly if we persist in our flat-Earth denial of the fact that we live in a busy universe that is much bigger than our planet is) ...And there's no question that the sun is going to burn out in a few billion years. So either we move off this rock, or eventually we die.

[ReadTomPaine]

25. Actually there are serious health issues to overcome..

Radiation, bone and muscle loss, balance issues and more all have to be overcome before a person could truly "live" in space.

Much better off in a planetary colony - for instance near the sources of water recently found on Mars.

As for myself.. tho I'm a staunch supporter of space exploration, I'm still partial to living on Earth.

[cynatnite]

41. I wouldn't go unless gravity could be guaranteed...

Flying around for the first few minutes would be a blast, but after a while, I'd get sick. Gravity is a must for living in space.

But, I wouldn't mind having a nearby planet that I can zoom off to so I can plant my feet on some ground from time to time.

[ReadTomPaine]

43. That would handle a bunch of the problems, but not all...

For example, astronauts are subjected to something like 30 times the radiation exposure of people on Earth. It's bad enough that they are classified as radiation workers and have predetermined lifetime limits to the amount of time they spend in that environment.

[AlienGirl]

21. Gaia wants to reproduce

If Earth is a living organism, why would it not want to reproduce itself? Humanity might just be the mechanism by which Earth will launch mini-biospheres, small complete ecosystems, to go and fertilize other planets. Eventually, Earth's sun will swallow it, and I can't believe that the biosphere *ought* to be left to die then.

To survive, humans need to learn to create and maintain pockets of life and take them elsewhere. In doing so they will learn how to clean up ecosystems and live in balance. By this method, humans will reach the stars and Earth as a living system will bud, leaving descendants to defy the pressures of time.

Tucker

[rzemanfl]

3. Maybe, would there be Republicans there? n/t

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. That would be a deciding factor in my case.

[Xipe Totec]

16. Yes, but the bag limit would be generous n/t

[mike_c]

20. ROTFLMAO!!!

:rofl:

[KamaAina]

32. Shhhhh! Be vewy, vewy quiet.

I'm huntin' fow a wepuke!!

[rzemanfl]

45. Missed this last night, but got a laugh from it this a.m. Great line-

I will remember it.

[kdmorris]

27. LOL I was thinking the same thing n/t

[Warpy]

4. 6 billion of us won't be relocated, no matter how bad

such a disaster might be. You can bet your ass the rich will move there, along with a sufficient number of servants to make sure they aren't inconvenienced. Then the disaster will be allowed to proceed.

Hawking's just playing with his head.

I'd rather die here from whatever disaster befalls my home than be taken off to provide a servant class for the people who likely caused it.

[cynatnite]

7. Maybe it's the trekker in me...

but I don't view it that way, to be honest. Sure, the rich would do something like that, but I also think there are enough individuals that would want to start a colony in hopes of keeping the human race viable for the future.

[Massacure]

17. A few dozen tops would be able to go and those would be based on

intelligence and skill, not money. You would need to be a damn good mechanic or scientist or doctor.

[Warpy]

31. The rich are arrogant enough to think these are simple things

that can easily be learned by superior (rich) beings in a few minutes.

[pitohui]

8. would you move to prison?

living in a box forever and forever amen is living in a box be it in angola or be it in the asteroid belt

[cigsandcoffee]

9. Only if there's cable internet.

[Deja Q]

11. The lack of oxygen, gravity, and air pressure would be novel at first...

But it wouldn't grow on me...

A lot of people (typically science fiction writers) have said something similar over the last several decades about emigrating to other worlds. Ditto for terraforming (making other worlds habitable for human and animal life.)

I do not find it logical why should Hawking should be considered the first person to ask it.

[cynatnite]

13. Who considers Hawking the first to say it? n/t

[Swamp Rat]

12. Why don't we send the alien lizards back where THEY came from?

Earth would clean up nicely after THEY are gone. :D

[TheCowsCameHome]

14. Nah. Too much RW talk radio comes from out there.

[Xipe Totec]

15. In a heartbeat

given half a chance.

Hell I come from a long line of nomads (8 generations) what better opportunity to continue the family tradition.

Besides, it's getting mighty crowded down here!

[mike_c]

18. how do you think I came to be marooned on THIS planet...?

No way am I from this crazy place.

[AlienGirl]

22. You too, eh?

[Uncle Joe]

23. We are already living in outer space

on a tiny blue marble separated by such vast distance to other potential homes for humanity that it will take several hundred if not thousands of years to make the trek. I love Star Trek too but if we as a species do not learn to live on spaceship Earth in a sustainable manner, we will never have the time to master the technologies required to make the trip.

[cynatnite]

26. Now, that is right...

I heartily agree.

There are times I wish I could just jump on a Klingon Battle Cruiser with my trusty English/Klingon dictionary and run off to the cosmos. I get so frustrated and tired of all the crap humans to do one another and to the planet we live on.

We do have to take care of home first before we can ever be able to take care of another one in outer space.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

24. Will we get "Bonus Miles"? Can we upgrade to 1st Class?

If not, I think I'll stick around to see how everything turns out.

[Roon]

28. Yes, as long as they have broadband

I can be anywhere in this universe for X-amount of time as long as I had broadband. Kitties would help too!! lol

[me b zola]

30. other

Mr Zola would like to live in outer space, and after the fight that we just had I may just support his desire :evilfrown:

[Hardrada]

33. I will go if they have all the wimmen they do in Star Trek

and in those outfits too. Anyway what will the ratio be of women to men? have they posted this yet?

[AlienGirl]

35. With current technology, more women than men is likely

Women resist the deleterious effects of zero-G on average better than men do, and women's relatively smaller average size and lower caloric requirement suggest that if humans were being screened broadly by ability to survive in space, more women than men would reach or exceed the requirements.

Tucker

[Xipe Totec]

37. And the downside to this?

I mean, speaking as a surviving male (hopefully)?

:loveya:

[Warren DeMontague]

34. Not just yes,

but Hell Yes.

[longship]

38. First there needs to be some place up there to move.

You know. Air, water, some comfort like a cushy chair or two. Food would be nice.

Then, sure. Why not?

Some company would be nice as well.

[johnaries]

39. Maybe - I live in the most beautiful place on the Planet.

Middle Tennessee. The greenest greens you will ever see. Rolling hills. Every curve in the road brings a new Vista and new beauty. Flowing rivers of every shape and size. Waterfalls ranging from tiny to majestic. No matter which path you take, it will take you to new beauties you haven't seen before.

I have visited other places, and I'll admit I love the Carribean - but I would miss Middle Tennessee: The Cumberland Valley and the Cumberland Plateau. Oh, yeah - we're also close to the Smoky Mountains, which are nice, too.

But I know Space is beautiful, too. I would love to see Earth from space. Well, Earth as it is now. I would love to explore and see the beauty of other planets.

But if I had to totally give up the beauty of the Cumberlands? If I could never, ever return? I could never swim at the bottom of Burgess Falls, or chill-out on the Fall Creek Falls Cascades, or enjoy the amphitheater Magic of Virgin Falls, or canoe down the Buffalo River? Or, even if I was in a wheelchair, have someone wheel me out to the Angel Falls Overlook?

If those were gone, I would be dead inside, already.

[everythingsxen]

40. Get me off this frigging rock! (NT)

[LWolf]

42. No, but I hope 99% of the rest of the population wants to.

Imagine living on an earth without the concrete, the cities, the crowds, the lights...

A place restored to forests, grasslands, free-running rivers, healthy oceans, dark night skies...

May the masses become enthusiastic pioneers, leaving a reasonable number of us behind to be stewards of the home planet. :D

[politicat]

44. I'm supposed to be there by now!!

I distinctly remember being promised at about 6 or 7 that by the time I hit 30, we'd be living on the moon and people would be exploring Mars.

I would be headed to the Moon in a matter of hours if it was available. It's the only reason I'm maintaining my fertility, because it may be a requirement for exit immigration.

We humans need some off-site backup, and it's a lot harder to clean up a place when you still have to live in it than it is to clean up after you're already moved out. (As any apartment dweller knows.)