It has taken about 4 billion years for life
on earth to develop to the present stage.
During that period the main threat has been
from collisions with comets, every few million
years
but now the man-made dangers to our survival
are much greater and ever increasing.
If we remain confined to planet earth, sooner
or later we will destroy ourselves.
The only long term survival plan that works,
is to spread out into space.
I'm not worried about the future of the universe.
The universe will continue, whatever happens
but the future of the human race and life
on earth is much less certain.
we are at danger of destroying ourselves by
our greed and stupidity.
If we are the only intelligent beings in the
galaxy we should make sure we survive and
continue
but we are entering an increasingly dangerous
period of our history.
Our population and our use of the finite resources
of planet earth are growing exponentially
along with our ability to change the environment
for good or ill.
but our genetic code still carries a selfish
and aggressive instinct, that was of survival
advantage in the past.
If will be difficult enough to avoid disaster
in the next 100 years, let alone the next
1,000 or 1,000,000.
Our only chance of long term survival is not
to remain inward looking on planet earth but
to spread out into space.
The answers to these big questions have shown
that we have made remarkable progress in the
last 100 years
but If we want to continue beyond the next
100 years
the future is in space.
That is why I am in favor of manned, or should
I say personned, space flight.
