Saturday, May 14, 2016

#135 / Let's (Not) Go To Mars


Stephen Hawking thinks that humanity is just about done for here on Earth: 

This is Earth
Hawking has a solution, though. He suggests that we can keep the human species alive by moving it offsite, to Mars:

This is Mars
Click this link for an article discussing Hawking's plan, and see the image below for an artist's impression of a human colony on Mars:

Humanity's New Home (An Artist's Conception)
When Hawking says "humanity" can be saved by moving it to Mars, I don't think that necessarily includes either you or me, or any of our children or grandchildren. SOME humans will be saved! I guess I am supposed to be happy about that.

Frankly, though, instead of spending all the money necessary to send a few specimens of human life to Mars, as a way to "save the species," why not recognize what the wise among us know already? Human life is life inextricably linked to Planet Earth, a world we did not create, and a world upon which we are utterly dependent.

Let's spend our money figuring out how NOT to destroy the Earth, and ourselves. Then, instead of sending a few specimens off to Mars, which is, after all, a rather uncongenial location, we can provide opportunities to go camping in Yosemite:



Image Credits
(1) - http://www.extremescience.com/earth.htm
(2) - https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/jul/14/mars.spaceexploration
(3) - http://news.discovery.com/space/hawking-earth-is-likely-doomed-humanity-neednt-be-160119.htm
(4) - http://www.amazon.com/Overdevelopment-Overpopulation-Overshoot-Tom-Butler/product-reviews/1939621232

1 comment:

Thanks for your comment!