If the world was coming to an end and we were to send one last message out into the cosmos that summed up the beauty of life on Earth, what would it be? Jane Goodall, Mohsin Hamid, Oscar Murillo, James Dyson, Richard Dawkins, Kyung-sook Shin and Daniel Humm tell us.
Tell us how you would sum up the beauty of life on Earth on the Times Opinion Facebook page. We may highlight your response in a follow-up to this piece.
@OP – If the world was coming to an end and we were to send one last message out into the cosmos that summed up the beauty of life on Earth, . . . . .. . . . . . . . .
Blow sending messages into the cosmos!!
“You just have time for one more launch from Earth – and we can accommodate one last ship-load of humans on the Titan Base.
Elsewhere, this was my response as a final message.
Sorry Alan, My last message would be; Do not allow Humans from Earth to immigrate. They already screwed up one planet.
And also, The Humans managed to screw up the planet in less than two thousand years.
They may also still be infected with the “God Delusion”………..
For human bases to operate in the outer Solar-System where sunlight is weak, some fission or fusion power source is required.
Such power sources are currently under development!
The agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) has provided multi-year funding to the Kilopower project.
Testing is due to start in November and go through early next year, with NASA partnering with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Nevada National Security Site to appraise fission power technologies.
Alan, its not that I don’t see the need for research and space exploration, I am starting to have a morality issue with the spread of Humans.
And, if massive planet outpost are developed, what motivation is there to save Earth? Only the rich and famous will survive. And they will look upon Earth as a garbage dump. Economic cleansing. Then the Tribe mentality would set in. So we would in effect, be splitting the Human race into the Martians and the Earthlings.
Message: Hello, from planet Earth. A very fine chap named Dan made this soon-to-be dead world a little brighter.
I’m not sure about that! We certainly sent god-deluded astronauts into space, but ONLY by a huge back-up force of highly educated and dedicated scientists and engineers facilitating this!
The authority obeying faith-thinkers, would not have lasted a couple of days, without these rationalists providing the technical support services and instructions.
There is a very big difference in OUTCOMES between those trusting evidence based expert instructions from a team of reputable scientists, and those blindly following faith in “authoritative” priestly interpretations of mythology or political or corporate ideology!
And, if massive planet outpost are developed, what motivation is there to save Earth?
There will never be facilities to transport more than a tiny percentage of humans to exo-colonies, so while there may be political manipulations by the rich to acquire such postings for themselves, the harsh selective environment of space will quickly remove any anti-science wish-thinkers individually or en-block.
Only the rich and famous will survive. And they will look upon Earth as a garbage dump. Economic cleansing.
I think the colonists (especially remote ones), will not see themselves as having a commitment to Earth, but it will be up to the remaining Earth population to solve their own problems, while the colonists will have enough of their own challenges to meet in settlements which need artificial power generators, just to provide life support to survive!
Then the Tribe mentality would set in.
Your are probably right, that the separate settlements will go their own ways, although some trading of specialist materials and ideas will happen.
The exceptions to this, would be trading infrastructure colonies in Earth or Lunar orbit, selling services to Earth-based enterprises.
These would however be vulnerable to Earth related disasters such as asteroid showers or Solar flares.