I happened into a brief conversation while stepping outside for a smoke while on break the other evening. It started as a comment someone made about smoking laws getting ridiculous, while we still have to breath billowing black clouds of god knows what, emanating from big trucks and such. This rapidly turned to a discussion of what we are doing to the planet environmentally. One individual pretty much closed the subject by stating that, regardless of what we do, when this planet has had enough of us, it will sweep mankind from its face in the blink of a cosmic eye. I don't think anyone can really argue that point, but it started me thinking about mankind, its future and the recent conclusion of the NASA Space Shuttle Program.
The first and foremost question in my mind is this; Is the extended survival of the human race even worth working towards? We wreak havoc where ever we set foot. We kill off our own kind as well as decimate other species. We destroy that which sustains us. We are greedy, and take, beyond that which the natural order dictates. So why not go about our business until some event causes mass extinction of our species? As with most things, there is another side to the coin. As a species we are unique to this planet, this solar system and though the debate is still open, possibly to the universe. We are capable of creating. Music, art, literature, architecture, many things of great beauty. We think, we question, we inquire and investigate, we experiment and hopefully we learn. So why can't we learn to preserve the good, and shun the bad, and look towards preserving our race beyond whatever natural or man made cataclysm will ultimately end our lease on earth.
Growing up with the Apollo moon landing, Star Trek, 2001 Space Odyssey and its sequel 2010, I've always had strong thoughts about the space program. All of them supportive and positive. While it may have started in a typically human fashion; "I'm gonna beat you there, then use it for military advantage", it also offered up a world ...um, excuse me.., a "universe" of other possibilities. The technologies that have arisen from the space program, the knowledge gained about everything from our own planet to the depths of the known universe, have far exceeded anything we thought was possible back when John F. Kennedy committed the U.S to beating the U.S.S.R. to the moon. I believe that reason alone is cause enough to invest in a strong space program, however, we do need to think larger and further ahead. If we wish preserve our species, we need to think outside the confines of earth orbit, the moon and a "local" space station. We need to set our sites and resources on a plan that will enable us to explore well beyond our solar system. I'm talking manned exploration. Using available technology or even that which could be developed in the near future, such exploration could very well mean a one-way trip for the individuals venturing out. It seems hard to imagine a group of people committing themselves to a voyage to which they would leave everything they know and love behind, set out on a trip knowing it is filled with hazards, uncertainty and possible death, with a very real likely hood that they will never return. Hard to imagine until one consider the thousands of brave individuals that go off to war every day. Or the explorers that searched for the "new world" or the North West passage, or traveled West across the U.S. or climbed Mt Everest or any other great adventurers history has given us. It is part of the special make up of our species to search out new places at great personal peril. Those that have done so in the past have advanced us as a race. As will those that do so in the future. Its not a question of whether we are able to find people willing to try. It's a question of will we support their effort with all the science, intellect, creativity, ingenuity and resources available to do so? Will we do it to preserve our species and all it's greatness for future generations? To further our knowledge of our world and of the universe and maybe, just maybe, some day find there are others out there with which to share that knowledge. There is so much still that we do not know. To stop seeking that knowledge will ultimately doom us to the fate of the dinosaurs.
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