In the long run, the only way for the human species to survive is to leave this planet. Physics is physics. The earth is doomed one way or another. Speaking of sustainable development, there is no alternative to space development and eventual speciation, leading to collaboration and competition between a growing variety of hominids in search for available resources. This is axiomatic. It is not negotiable. And yet, only a few hundred, or maybe few thousand, people now living understand it in its stark simplicity. What does this tell you about sustainable development?

Addendum I (October 26, 2003)

Last week I sent two letters to newspaper editors in support of manned spaceflight, which currently finds little favor across the globe. Except in China, it appears. The first went to The Economist and the second to The Technology Review, MIT’s magazine of innovation. The gist of the two letters is that manned spaceflight is a precondition for the colonization of space, which is a precondition for human survival. Both letters went to my friends as electronic postcards. So far, I have received a good number of responses. A few are surprising. That is, some of my friends are not sure why humanity ought to survive. They seem to feel that the extinction of the species is its just dessert. They seem not to understand that physics is physics and that life will exhaust every circumscribed habitat, such as a planet or a planetary system, no matter how gingerly it goes about it. At this juncture, human survival is about the survival of life in many of its forms. Some other species may eventually take life forward, of course, but this does not affect the underlying principle. Colonization of space is about life itself.

Addendum II (January 21, 2004)

I am quite thrilled by the recent American announcement of something resembling a lunar base from which to stage forays to Mars and further afield in the solar system. Assuming that it will pass the many political hurdles on its way, the program will take decades to unfold. My enthusiasm for space colonization is rekindled by so many stories that are popping up in the local newspapers in the wake of the announcement. A recent story about the greening of Mars made me outright happy. But my excitement is tempered by the skepticism of some of my friends. In fact, it weighs upon me like a stone. For them, the long-term survival of the human species is not a sufficient justification of space colonization. Neither is the survival of other life forms that would fare along to the new worlds. Everything around us is already tainted by ourselves, as it were. And so I find myself feverishly looking for an unassailable justification of space colonization. “Speciation!” it flashed through my mind this morning. The longer we hop from world to world, the more likely it is that we will split up into separate species, and the more likely that some of these will be to our liking. “Nah,” it surged through my mind only a moment later. For every humanoid species more to our liking, there will be many more even less to our liking than what we have already. The search continues, though.