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Jax2 t1_ixfe9q2 wrote

I'd have to read what he had to say on the matter to give a decent answer to your question in the way it's written. If you mean earth is not sustainable for human life, I would have to agree, to a point. There will always be some outliers, even if another ice age were to occur in the next few years. Some of the population would survive but it would be a very small number. Overpopulation could become a serious factor, but there will always be the "haves" that will survive while millions of others do not. Humans will go on, but their numbers may dwindle to almost imperceptible amounts.

As for colonizing another planet, no, there is zero chance of that happening unless we can somehow disprove (and completely shatter) our current understanding of physics. The distances are far, far too great to ever reach another habitable planet, let alone having the means to discover said planets. I would say this is a win for the universe. The bigger question should be, should humans be ALLOWED to spread to other planets? We are parasitic in almost every way. replanting trees and breeding the things we slaughter are not enough to remove that stigma from us. We destroy our planet on a daily basis and do little to nothing to rectify that.

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yaykarin OP t1_ixfeu49 wrote

WOW parasitic humans. That's a new concept for me. Appreciate you sharing it. I'll be contemplating deeply.

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Jax2 t1_ixffx5u wrote

I am honestly trying to figure out if that was sarcasm or not - I mean, it's a very old concept. I am not some tree hugger. I love my house, my polluting car, eating nice big steaks and going to zoos to see animals I wouldn't otherwise get to see. However, the facts remain. We take in every form. We cut the trees to create building materials that we then use to create buildings and roads and parking lots on land, decreasing it's use for every other species.

We tear up the ground and take out metals and ores to create those cars that spew poison, or pat ourselves on the back while we make cars that STILL require natural resources to charge (which will ALWAYS be the case unless we want to cover massive swaths of ground with solar or wind generators)...

We breed massive herds of cattle that need an ever growing source of food and land to graze, so we chop down forests to give them grazing land and make fields for growing grain in.

We create industries for no other purpose than to give us more "things" and in doing so, allow them to pollute the skies and water.

In the big picture of things, I can see no better way of describing humans. The earth has been around for billions of years, pristine in every way, until the last few thousand years or so since humans have been industrious.

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CowSlayer450 t1_ixg59g7 wrote

One thing to keep in mind that adds to the improbability of colonizing another planet is the fact that it would likely require the entire planet to work collectively towards that goal. Pooling resources and brain power and working as one, because no single country would have the money or man power to accomplish that.

Spend 5 minutes in social media and it'll be clear that we could never achieve that even if all the stuff you mentioned wasn't a factor.

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Cthu-Luke t1_ixg3v19 wrote

The distances are not too great. It would take a generation ship, ingenuity, resolve. But yes it's doable. Would we really want to though? I don't know. If overpopulation is a concern, then space habitats are the choice. O'Neil cylinders etc.

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One_King_4900 t1_ixffh6u wrote

I agree with your sentiment. We should not be ALLOWED to move beyond this planet. We will only bring harm wherever we go.

At the current rate of tech we possess the only way we could even practically make it To another habitable planet would be to build an intergalactic “cruise ship” if you will that could support a few people for at the bare minimum three generations of life. But that would be basically inbreeding at that point an we would most likely not make it either way.

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Jax2 t1_ixfgt6b wrote

>I agree with your sentiment. We should not be ALLOWED to move beyond this planet. We will only bring harm wherever we go.

Exactly - if we ever DID decide to try and colonize another planet at some point in the far distant future, the main factor in doing so would be profitability. Money drives everything, including innovation - there is little use for innovation unless there's a return on the time / investment. If deep space travel ever did become viable, it would be only because massive corporations or governments see a large enough profit to continue pursuing the idea.

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