For several centuries, mankind has looked up to the heavens as the home of the gods. Several religions even belief that after death people who have done well during their lifetime would ascend into the heavens to live among the gods in bliss for all of eternity.
However, not everyone looks up to the skies as the home of the gods. Some people are much more down to earth and perceive the skies to contain other worlds apart from our own where other forms of life might live or even where mankind can live one day. I have always imagined myself living on Europa and when the Kepler program began it's search for exoplanets, I was completely ecstatic. The solar system began to seem less intriguing. I was thinking, why visit a neighbour's house when there are several countries to visit.
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Various organizations are making plans to make humans an interplanetary species with organizations such as NASA, E.S.O, etc funded by governments and private organizations such as Elon Musk's Space-X spending huge amounts of money with the hopes of making this a reality.
WHY SEARCH FOR NEW HOMES WHEN WE HAVE THE EARTH?
Several rich have houses in various places because it's cool and they can afford it. Moreover, there are times when one might desire to change his environment, therefore, he could sell off his old house and move into a new neighbourhood. The same applies to new worlds. Some people might desire to live on a new world because they can afford it while others might desire to do so because they are no longer content with living on Earth and wish to try out something else.
Photo CreditThere have been major extinction events several times during the course of the the Earth's history. Either as a result of the evolution of a new organism that releases a gas which is toxic to other lifeforms or comet impacts, there are various scenarios Mother Nature can enact to wipe us out. If It happened to the dinosaurs, then it can happen to us. With our present technology, I think that we should be more scared of destroying ourselves than being destroyed by nature. Having humans on other world(s) can serve as an insurance plan for us, thereby ensuring Mankind's continued existence if an apocalypse occurs on Earth.
The Earth is really vast but with our technological advances, mortality rate is reducing across all ages. People can now expect to live longer than their ancestors lived and there are people who are making researches aimed at increasing the human life span with some having virtual immortality as their goal. These days, most wars are fought with economic sanctions, not weapons. There are more human beings alive than at any other time in history and the Earth can only support a certain number of people. If we do not make homes on other worlds soon, the world might not have enough resources to support the population, thereby causing chaos.
Photo CreditSeveral top scientists such as Stephen Hawkings are making predictions that our time on Earth is almost up. If we do not find a new home soon, we might just be wiped out.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE BECOME AN INTERPLANETARY SPECIES?
Becoming an Interplanetary species would be really cool. Imagine being able to spend the holidays on the red sands of Mars or by the lakes of Titan. How cool would that be?
However,let's imagine a scenario where for some strange reason, the entirety of the human race becomes incapable of space flight. If a colony started on Mars prior to the event finds a way of coming back to Earth after about ten million years, both groups would have evolved into two entirely different species that would be incapable of interbreeding with each other as a result of the fact that both groups have had to evolve to adapt to different environmental conditions and hence grown really different.
But generally speaking, becoming an interplanetary species would be really amazing and I look forward to experiencing it.
FOR FURTHER READING
- https://caffetaria.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/why-mankind-needs-to-become-an-interplanetary-species/
- http://highexistence.com/why-humanity-must-become-a-multi-planetary-species/
- https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=-HnKHj3HMEUC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=can+humans+become+separated+on+various+planets+and+thus+become+unable+to+interbreed&source=bl&ots=iHKPCgJ6NL&sig=qEC3yXCzv_3sHcyL-xjc_chlK6M&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSusa7-OzYAhVM6xQKHXhaA4MQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=can%20humans%20become%20separated%20on%20various%20planets%20and%20thus%20become%20unable%20to%20interbreed&f=false
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