Is space the next logical step?

Sure…and it is the final frontier after all…

It is a “logical” step insomuch as it follows the logic of the dominant culture (“use up resources and people, move on to get more”). I am not one of those people; my logic is based on physical reality and an understanding of our species’ place in our ecosystems, and that we don’t need to destroy our landbases to live comfortably, and not to mention a hefty dose of love for the planet. Let’s remember how to live on our planet first before we take the effort to start sending people to others.

Yes, I would like to meet one of them green space alien guys.

Oh absolutely it is & why not eh? Always a great atmosphere.

Well we killed on planet why not move on to more, right

Yes, I think we need to spread out into the universe.

In my opinion not any time soon. Although, I find it a very interesting possibility. It would have to be in another galaxy if we were to find a planet that can sustain us. Or, I guess we could have cities that orbit the earth? But we have to solve the gravity problem. Creat out own artificial moon with an earth environment? Just thinking out loud.

I think most likely we will get more creative on earth. Improve the environment, changes in living situations, possibly small water cities on our oceans.

We have no choice but to expand in to space. Whether we stop polluting our planet or not, eventually we will run out of room and resources. When you invest, you don’t put all your money in one thing. That is what we have here on earth. One chance. If we were to expand to the moon with colonies that would be a second chance. The more planets or colonies we could create increases our chances of survival as a species.

Yes, even if we colonize under water, sticking to a single planet is rather like keeping all of our eggs in one basket.

The next logical step is to live in harmony on this world. The step beyond that is other worlds.

We have so much more of this planet to use – and I’m talking just on its surface, too, not underground or underwater – that I shake my head at the foolishness of all who say it’s used up, worn out, ruined… or anywhere near that.

It’s true that the planet’s resources are finite, in terms of energy and material. But we’re nowhere close to the limits of those resources.

On the other hand, unchecked human expansion puts great pressure on other large species (large mammalian species in particular) that need more range than our increasing suburbanization allows.

It is certainly one of the next few logical steps, but maybe not next.

@JLeslie Even if we have cities in space or on other planets, we would need to get a bunch of our resources from earth and we’d waste a lot resources just transporting things. In the end, if we are to survive as a species, we will need to find another planet. However, that time might well be a long way off, especially if we can find a way to live as @incendiary_dan said (though I’m doubtful we will…).

Living on another planet would be a good backup plan for humans – in case the planet surface gets destroyed by man or meteorite.

I think we’ll be able to “upload” human memories and thought processes and run them in a virtual environment before mass emigration through space becomes economically feasible (if indeed it ever does).

@hiphiphopflipflapflop – upload would be great! Spacecraft would be much smaller and cheaper without life support systems. That would make it economically feasible much sooner.

@RocketGuy the sf writers Greg Egan and Charles Stross have really influenced me in this regard.

In Accelerando, Stross has a number of his characters upload their personalities to a “Coke-can-sized slab of nanocomputers, running a neural simulation of the uploaded brain states of some tens of humans at merely normal speed” attached to a light sail which is driven by lasers orbiting Jupiter towards a brown dwarf (which they believe a router for an intragalactic communications system is orbiting).

In Diaspora, Egan gave a very convincing description for how a self-conscious computer program could be “born” in a virtual environment using a number of abstractions based on the developmental process taking place in human brains in embryo.