I say we just send Bear Grylls up there and see how long he can survive. He'll find some space bees and talk them into giving him some honey via interpretive dance, and then squeeze water out of their poop into his mouth to wash it down.
As we gain information that leads us to believe a planet is potentially open to colonization, there's some compelling ideas to think about.
Say we find a place devoid of life, but capable of sustaining life. What organisms do we want to have exist there?
It would be a world we'd populate with a working food chain with specifically selected species.
Imagine an inhabitable world without Cockroaches, Tics, Spiders and Mosquitoes.
That sounds pretty dope to me, even if it's highly regulated biodome.
+3
Options
Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
I'm not a big fan of the manifest destiny of humanity as a rule?
But if a thing is empty, we kind of need to spread out
Or else one stray rock the size of Chicago ends us and everything we've ever known or built and then who's going to be around to fuck the space aliens
TrippyJingMoses supposes his toeses are roses.But Moses supposes erroneously.Registered Userregular
It's a real good thing I read on instead of immediately responding to UV's posts, otherwise I would have just reiterated all your points and replaced every one of his mentions of "Mars" with "the Oregon Trail."
0
Options
PiptheFairFrequently not in boats.Registered Userregular
It's a real good thing I read on instead of immediately responding to UV's posts, otherwise I would have just reiterated all your points and replaced every one of his mentions of "Mars" with "the Oregon Trail."
It's a real good thing I read on instead of immediately responding to UV's posts, otherwise I would have just reiterated all your points and replaced every one of his mentions of "Mars" with "the Oregon Trail."
fucking dysentery man
So many goddamn buffalo died and I didn't even make it to Idaho
I'm pretty okay with me dying on this rock, but I'd be sad if I somehow learned that humanity never explored elsewhere.
Why?
Out of curiosity
I wonder which of these points of view is more common. I'm on the TrippyJing side where I feel exploration and wanting to solve the mystery of the unknown is paramount to humanity. I'm curious why you wouldn't be sad to find out we didn't explore elsewhere.
Because there is a whole universe out there to explore! Mars is just the first step. Don't you, deep down, feel a yearning to see it all? I do. I want to see everything in this world and beyond it. I know I can't, but I have a deeply rooted need to try.
our continuing mission: to boldly seek out and have sex with new planets and new civilizations
+16
Options
TrippyJingMoses supposes his toeses are roses.But Moses supposes erroneously.Registered Userregular
The human race has a history of going, "Life sucks here, let's go over there" regardless of whether it's to live there, bring something back from there, or just to learn something new.
0
Options
Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
The idea that extinction is preferable to humanity's continued existence beyond our lifetime is, perhaps, the most narcissistic thing I've ever heard
But then, I'm one of those types who believes that humanity changes as time goes on and doesn't have a set "good/evil" nature like a goddamn D&D character
I dunno
I sympathize with the idea that humanity is fucked but I guess I don't agree with the idea that humanity deserves to get fucked
'Humanity' doesn't exist. It's just an idea. It's like a country, long live Czechoslovakia! and all that. Humanity doesn't deserve to die, but it dying means nothing. Extinction isn't preferable but it isn't a bad thing either.
0
Options
Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
'Humanity' doesn't exist. It's just an idea. It's like a country, long live Czechoslovakia! and all that. Humanity doesn't deserve to die, but it dying means nothing. Extinction isn't preferable but it isn't a bad thing either.
I'm sorry but my connection to other members of my same species is the last jingoistic hill I am willing to sacrifice
Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
If Anne Frank could believe in the inherent goodness of humanity, there's nothing stopping any of us from believing the same.
Humanity can and should colonize our solar system. Humanity can, and should, exploit the resources of nearby planetoids that cannot bear life to further our goals. And eventually, in some distant future that we cannot conceive of, some little boy will be walking with his father out on their lawn one warm summer night, and he'll kneel down and take his son by the shoulder and guide the boy's curious eyes to the night sky, pick out a faint, distant yellow star and say "That's home. That's where your great, great, great grandfather was born."
The idea that extinction is preferable to humanity's continued existence beyond our lifetime is, perhaps, the most narcissistic thing I've ever heard
But then, I'm one of those types who believes that humanity changes as time goes on and doesn't have a set "good/evil" nature like a goddamn D&D character
I dunno
I sympathize with the idea that humanity is fucked but I guess I don't agree with the idea that humanity deserves to get fucked
I don't think it's preferable, simply inevitable, and I don't believe humans are inherently good or evil, and even if they were, I don't think that factors into it at all
I simply believe that humanity is going to die one day, that's all. I'm not being narcissistic and thinking "oh well hopefully it happens after I'm dead!" I just realize it's a very real possibility that it may happen while I am still alive. My own life doesn't matter in this scenario, it's completely irrelevant.
As for questions like "oh what's the point in even getting up in the morning?" or things like that, yo, I dig my life here. It's pretty cool! I like seeing my family and friends, I like making memories, discovering art I've never experienced before, so on and so forth. I just also happen to think that eventually none of it will matter, all the things I enjoy in my day to day life will one day go completely forgotten, remembered by nobody, if there are beings even capable of remembrance by that point. I've made my peace with it.
I don't let it get me down because it's whatever, there's nothing I can do about it anyways, so in my day to day life I'm actually more of an optimist. It just means that I, personally, lack any drive in seeing or wondering "what's out there" because to me the answer is "nothingness, eventually"
+1
Options
Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
I don't think humanity will really go extinct unless we very, very quickly extinct ourselves. In the next few hundred generations, we may become something so different that humans of today's age wouldn't recognize our descendants, but I think we'll stick around for a long, long time.
'Humanity' doesn't exist. It's just an idea. It's like a country, long live Czechoslovakia! and all that. Humanity doesn't deserve to die, but it dying means nothing. Extinction isn't preferable but it isn't a bad thing either.
Then your definition of "nothing" is too broad to have any meaningful impact upon the discussion. This is just navel gazing, because we do exist, we do advance as a society, our relationships do have impact on our decisions and thinking processes. Meaning doesn't come into the equation.
We are capable of understanding the universe and having a quantifiable impact on it. The loss of that does have an impact on the universe, and so does ignoring our potential to make an impact.
0
Options
Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
The idea that extinction is preferable to humanity's continued existence beyond our lifetime is, perhaps, the most narcissistic thing I've ever heard
But then, I'm one of those types who believes that humanity changes as time goes on and doesn't have a set "good/evil" nature like a goddamn D&D character
I dunno
I sympathize with the idea that humanity is fucked but I guess I don't agree with the idea that humanity deserves to get fucked
I don't think it's preferable, simply inevitable, and I don't believe humans are inherently good or evil, and even if they were, I don't think that factors into it at all
I simply believe that humanity is going to die one day, that's all. I'm not being narcissistic and thinking "oh well hopefully it happens after I'm dead!" I just realize it's a very real possibility that it may happen while I am still alive. My own life doesn't matter in this scenario, it's completely irrelevant.
As for questions like "oh what's the point in even getting up in the morning?" or things like that, yo, I dig my life here. It's pretty cool! I like seeing my family and friends, I like making memories, discovering art I've never experienced before, so on and so forth. I just also happen to think that eventually none of it will matter, all the things I enjoy in my day to day life will one day go completely forgotten, remembered by nobody, if there are beings even capable of remembrance by that point. I've made my peace with it.
I don't let it get me down because it's whatever, there's nothing I can do about it anyways, so in my day to day life I'm actually more of an optimist. It just means that I, personally, lack any drive in seeing or wondering "what's out there" because to me the answer is "nothingness, eventually"
I guess the difference between us is that I see that inevitability as something a lot further off than you do
The heat death of the universe will eventually destroy everything that exists, so no point worrying about that, but there is a point in worrying about things that can be corrected or avoided, and what's the point of anything if we don't care at least a little bit about the things we could see and could experience as individuals or as a species before eventually nothing exists at all?
Things go extinct all the time, it's the natural way of things, how can that be sad?
I mean if you look at how the natural way of things tends actually to be something being "the natural way of things" seems like a pretty good argument that that way fucking sucks. Extinction is no exception.
0
Options
TrippyJingMoses supposes his toeses are roses.But Moses supposes erroneously.Registered Userregular
edited September 2015
In the end, all the pieces go back in the same box, but while the game is on, you can bet your ass I'm playing to win.
Posts
Say we find a place devoid of life, but capable of sustaining life. What organisms do we want to have exist there?
It would be a world we'd populate with a working food chain with specifically selected species.
Imagine an inhabitable world without Cockroaches, Tics, Spiders and Mosquitoes.
That sounds pretty dope to me, even if it's highly regulated biodome.
But if a thing is empty, we kind of need to spread out
Or else one stray rock the size of Chicago ends us and everything we've ever known or built and then who's going to be around to fuck the space aliens
No one, that's who
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
fucking dysentery man
So many goddamn buffalo died and I didn't even make it to Idaho
Lousy wagon tongues
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Right?
This is the key philosophical difference, I think
You listen here, mister. There will always be a Kirk to fuck space aliens, okay? ALWAYS!
But is he going to have some of my genetic material (to shoot into some alien)
Why?
Out of curiosity
I wonder which of these points of view is more common. I'm on the TrippyJing side where I feel exploration and wanting to solve the mystery of the unknown is paramount to humanity. I'm curious why you wouldn't be sad to find out we didn't explore elsewhere.
But then, I'm one of those types who believes that humanity changes as time goes on and doesn't have a set "good/evil" nature like a goddamn D&D character
I dunno
I sympathize with the idea that humanity is fucked but I guess I don't agree with the idea that humanity deserves to get fucked
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Why do you even go outside when you wake up?
To get food, usually
I'm sorry but my connection to other members of my same species is the last jingoistic hill I am willing to sacrifice
Extinction is bad because it's extinction
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Humanity can and should colonize our solar system. Humanity can, and should, exploit the resources of nearby planetoids that cannot bear life to further our goals. And eventually, in some distant future that we cannot conceive of, some little boy will be walking with his father out on their lawn one warm summer night, and he'll kneel down and take his son by the shoulder and guide the boy's curious eyes to the night sky, pick out a faint, distant yellow star and say "That's home. That's where your great, great, great grandfather was born."
When it's me, basically
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
I'm less surprised by how quickly we went back.
I don't think it's preferable, simply inevitable, and I don't believe humans are inherently good or evil, and even if they were, I don't think that factors into it at all
I simply believe that humanity is going to die one day, that's all. I'm not being narcissistic and thinking "oh well hopefully it happens after I'm dead!" I just realize it's a very real possibility that it may happen while I am still alive. My own life doesn't matter in this scenario, it's completely irrelevant.
As for questions like "oh what's the point in even getting up in the morning?" or things like that, yo, I dig my life here. It's pretty cool! I like seeing my family and friends, I like making memories, discovering art I've never experienced before, so on and so forth. I just also happen to think that eventually none of it will matter, all the things I enjoy in my day to day life will one day go completely forgotten, remembered by nobody, if there are beings even capable of remembrance by that point. I've made my peace with it.
I don't let it get me down because it's whatever, there's nothing I can do about it anyways, so in my day to day life I'm actually more of an optimist. It just means that I, personally, lack any drive in seeing or wondering "what's out there" because to me the answer is "nothingness, eventually"
Good ol' SE++!
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Then your definition of "nothing" is too broad to have any meaningful impact upon the discussion. This is just navel gazing, because we do exist, we do advance as a society, our relationships do have impact on our decisions and thinking processes. Meaning doesn't come into the equation.
We are capable of understanding the universe and having a quantifiable impact on it. The loss of that does have an impact on the universe, and so does ignoring our potential to make an impact.
Oh I was being flippant and you know it, the difference between "myself" and "my species" is a large one
Also it's less the loss of things that existed than the loss of things that could be
Potential lost and squandered because of self-inflicted harm or sheer unlucky coincidence is inherently tragic to me
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
I guess the difference between us is that I see that inevitability as something a lot further off than you do
The heat death of the universe will eventually destroy everything that exists, so no point worrying about that, but there is a point in worrying about things that can be corrected or avoided, and what's the point of anything if we don't care at least a little bit about the things we could see and could experience as individuals or as a species before eventually nothing exists at all?
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
loss of potential
Need some stuff designed or printed? I can help with that.
This is of course barring stuff like the aforementioned end of the universe