Why do people who think humans are wrecking Earth…

JC, self rep devices and nanotech can be terrible weapons if put in wrong hands. Compare bio weapons. That will have to be addressed. KF kairosfocus

News, Long term the solar system has resources that would make colonisation worthwhile. Once, we solve the energy costs of travel problem. I think as well the industrial, tech and sci progress involved may make a big difference to things at home. For instance, say, polywell fusion takes off. Bussard drives may take us to gas giants in 2 1/2 months, asteroid belt sooner . . . the mining prize, I suspect. But, the same tech would open up energy for desert transformation on earth. Similarly, if we break through on self replicating technology, that transforms industry. A civilisation in a fabber colony package would also be a tech transformation of industry here, leading to 3rd world transformation. And more. But that's likely a century long programme. KF PS: the first real colonies will likely be lunar. And Moon Grav is much better for launching from. kairosfocus

I think colonizing off earth Elon, Neil, and Bill would make a better planet here and who cares about mars. There is no problems on earth of over population or pollution etc. There are other problems however. Space was made for mans colonization , a eternally reproducing mankind, and the sky is the limit. Yet now its a wste of money and not interesting. Sci fic can give you the buzz better. As I said however send these three and its a beautiful world. More so. Robert Byers

I can see where Musk, Tyson, and Nye going are going with this: 1. If overpopulation is wrecking the earth, then spreading the population around will help remedy that issue. 2. Having humans elsewhere saves us from demise in case of a global catastrophe. Disclaimers: 1. I have no idea whether overpopulation and climate change are legitimate concerns and haven't done the research to find out. 2. Putting anything non-trivial in space is dang expensive. 3. I programmed computers at 8 on a DOS command prompt, still do, and do not think there will be any dangerous AI for a very very long time. JoeCoder

And those "other people" that are wrecking the Earth would NOT be allowed onboard the spaceship. Climate Change Deniers need not apply. Or at least not allowed near the spaceship thermostat. Wonder how Neil & Bill would react to the idea of a Christian Missionary Ship. ppolish

I would rather see space colonies on artificial structures in space not on planets. I am hopeful that in the future such colonies will allow experimentation with different forms of government and economic systems and those who are so inclined will be able to live under the system of their choice. I am not optimistic about the political situation on earth. You can't form an ideal society when the people do not share the same ideals. Jim Smith

I think the OP makes a reasonable point. I'm not one who believes we are "wrecking" the Earth exactly, but I don't favor of the creation of colonies elsewhere. It would be totally impractical, very expensive, and I doubt it would solve any of our problems.

Interesting comments. If we just assume that the principle driver of current a-crock-alypses (and related ideologies) is to get and keep power over other human beings by any available means, one could probably predict most people’s positions pretty accurately.

Another hypothesis is that people are concerned that future generations will be saddled with problems of our own making. There is an interesting article in the New Yorker which discusses how the gradual disappearance of the Salton Sea could affect the mostly poor, Latino population of California's Imperial Valley. Not exacerbating this problem would be a first step in empowering these people. daveS