So this was on Facebook the other day:

And I commented:

For one, it will show how well Mars is suited for Colonization. Facing overpopulation and resource shortage, we have to expand out minds and become solar bond people. We will outgrow earth, no matter what and Space-Migration is an essential

step in the survival of our species.

If it is up to me, I would spend several 1000 billion more for similar projects. And we could use the 35 trillion dollar budget we use worldwide on weapons. If the US can loose 8 trillion in the in-explorable depths of the military industry complex, we just as well can spend some change on exploring our solar system. Thinking this is wrong is just a sign of archaic fear, conservative ignorance, and a lack of any basic global economical understanding.

Please don’t pay any attention to such negative propaganda.

PS: I would also like to know who those “us poor people” are? If they can make de-motivational posters, they can’t be too poor.

The girl who had shared it with the group, then replied:

we are part of this planet, and we should be staying here! economy was created by people, which is effecting our lives in a negative way!! i think there’s a lot of corrections to be done on this planet, that politics has caused!! we don’t need to colonise Mars!!!

To which I added:

We are as much part of this planet, as we are of a sun 10.000 light-years away.
Everything in this solar system, once was one or more suns, is a mix of cosmic drift and particles floating about in a small cloud, accumulated over time and forged by cosmic calamities, until a ball of different compositions, some of dirt, well suited for a particular form of life.

We are not just part of this planet. We are part of everything else too. We are made out of 63% hydrogen. Each single particle of those 63% has been around - personally- from the very first moment after the big bang, as it is the first element that every existed; and still the most abundant. Several cycles of suns - where hydrogen and helium is fused together and form heavier atoms in the process, a small amount of the dust of now dead suns, forms us. There is no separation from the universe, except the one in our minds - no matter what you want to believe, you are still just a bunch of atoms in the end, reacting to electromagnetic waves, based on a program you are usually not aware of.

I agree that there are many things that need some fixing here, on this planet. No doubt. But we are getting there. Change is happening. Whether it will happen in time or not is yet to be seen.
But while we take care of our home, we need to expand our minds to surrounding elements in our reality. Simplemindedness has brought this whole shitstorm over us and it will destroy us too. We need to expand our horizon - in many ways.

I suggest looking into “SMI²LE”, a concept publicized by several very smart and progressive people (Leary, Watts, Dick, Wilson, Fuller etc.), in which the way to save humanity and this planet is outlined. Its acronym SMI²LE stands for “Space Migration”, “Intelligence Increase” & “Life Extension”. It not only shows where we will get to very soon - this is the inevitable development we will and must pass through in the next 50 years. It also makes clear what the subject of cultural and social discussion needs to be.

Genetics will not disappear. No way the development in that field will be held back. But genetics and bioengineering have huge implications that need to be discussed among leaders and intellectuals. But we don’t…
The same is true for the soon to come immortality. We are much closer than most people are willing to acknowledge.
There is nothing - except something that may cause global devastation, in which case it does not matter anyway - that will stop the current plans of many companies that already exist, to harvest asteroids. Nothing will stop the technological development that will lead to chips in our brains, life in augmented reality, and burger-paddies made from artificial meat, mould or insect proteins.

Nothing will stop our species from getting there, but how open we discuss these things will determine how well we can cope with those massive changes.

What say you?