Is there hope for the survival of the human race in the long-term to become a space-travelling species?

Question

There is a popular theory that suggests mankind has never been visited by an alien civilization because all intelligent civilizations wipe themselves out before they get the technological point of distant space travel.

Are you optimistic that the human race can survive long enough to develop sophisticated technlogies such as distant space travel? This could be anywhere from 500 to 1000 years away, do you think we can survive as a race, or will we be wiped out either by war, disease or natural disasters?

Do you see the human race becoming so advanced that in the distant future, many thousands or millions of years away, that we will be able to spread across to inhabit other planets, as surely this is the crucial task in long-term survivial.

Your thoughts?

Answer 1

I believe we need to understand the law of physics of space before we can ever travel in space. What we equate to miles or light years may be wrong in terms of moving through space. We have adapted to our earth environment mastered the use of fossil fuels but fossil fuels from earth will never allow us to travel in space. We have the potential but its a lofty goal. Magnetism and rotation seems to be constant in space so maybe we need to better study that to fully appreciate the law of space. We need robotic ships as  test dummies before we even begin to ponder some kind of jump in space that allows matter to systematically travel from one area to another!

Answer 2

I think we will be able to do it.  NASA has plans to make an almost self suffiant moon colony by 2020.  I think this is a wondeful idea because it doesn't place all of your eggs in one basket.  Just say a horrible disease wiped out all humans on Earth.  If it was far enough in the future humans on the moon could be prepared enough to take safety precautions when they come back down.  If a horrible war broke out the humans on the moon would still be saved because it isn't feastible to send a big enough bomb to the moon that it would blow it up.

Answer 3

Once the human species has managed to infect Luna and Mars, the danger if extinction should be reduced effectively to zero. One location, such as Earth could be blown up in a nuclear war, and the other colonies could live on, to return to Earth at a later date when it is safe again.

The beauty of space travel is that the distance involved renders war impractical or nearly impossible. Plenty of elbow room is always the safest bet.

I used the term "infect" because the human species, if you remember your biology, fits exactly, the definition of a parasite.

Answer 4

Arthur C Clarke use the Empire State Building to represent the geographic age of earth. One inch equaled 1,000,000 years.

On that scale Humans would be represented by a book on the TV tower and civilization by a dime on the book.

It's possible that hundred of alien cultures could have visited earth. However, most (all) would have found only a lifeless planet or one with only primitive organisms.

It's also been pointed out that the sheer distances between stars might limit the degree of contact by space travelers. It would take huge amounts of fuel and hundreds of years to get between stars. Which pretty much also know on the head some of the supposed behavior by UFOs

Answer 5

Some revered scientists like Carl Sagan have suggested that Humanity must extend at least into to colonization of a second planet merely to insure its own survival.

One of the barriers to real exploration and colonization is merely the vast distances in question. Without a means to achieve Faster than light travel, the distances between suitable worlds or natural resources prohibits anything past tossing our seed out into the universe.

sure we could send a colony ship out, but in the process condemn its crew and prodigny to permenant exile.

Right now is a very pessimistic time, and in our darker thoughts we question whether the United States can resume a leadership role in the world or in space colonization.

A new crop of world powers is emerging, perhaps China or India will take up or share in the mantle of space exploration.

Perhaps the technolgies being develpoed to combat the alleged environmental threat may one day may space coloization and terraforming more likely.

Answer 6

we will be wiped out by the sudden evolution of squirrels into man eating monsters that are unstoppable.