Do We Belong In Space?

Chase_Leader · February 25, 2009, 02:13:33 PM

Are we meant to travel into or explore space?
(This is not intended to be a religious thread, but if you feel your answer involves religion feel free to post.)
(This Debate is for Open Minded People)

I personally believe that with the International Space Station we will be one step closer to exploring deeper space...
However with the many risks involved in Space Exploration such as, but not limited to the following:

Space Debris

Lack of Oxygen

Radiation

Comets/Meteors...

Should we take this as a sign that we aren't meant to be in space?

I believe that God gave us the universe to study...I think that as long as we are willing to take risks to enter space, then there is nothing we can't accomplish...

What are your thoughts?

Nightwolf · February 25, 2009, 02:28:20 PM

Man has been, and always will be curious. He will always want to find out more, therefore, even if the world's dying, we'll keep exploring. Theres already a hole in the ozone layer above antarctice (though I dunno why antarctice, no one conducts industrail experiments there)

But, it wont stop. And probably in the upcoming years, we'll be able to get to further planets. Stars are out of thequestion, they're far away.

I love those universe encyclopedias cuz you feel that there is so much to know about things that are so far away. It's really funy.
I agree with you, if we want to explore space, we have to take risks. Unless there is a huge breakthrough.

And why would anyone drag religion into this ;-;

Edit: If you use the term "belong" in space, then err
I think 50-50. It's ruining the environment and using resources etc but its also providing information.
I'll go with maybe not.

Chase_Leader · February 25, 2009, 02:37:29 PM

QuoteAnd why would anyone drag religion into this ;-;

Some people might think that God or a higher being doesn't want us to, or that if God wanted us to then we would have found signs of sentient life on other planets.

tSwitch · February 25, 2009, 03:18:55 PM

Quote from: Chase_Leader on February 25, 2009, 02:37:29 PM
Some people might think that God or a higher being doesn't want us to, or that if God wanted us to then we would have found signs of sentient life on other planets.

that's a catch-22
to explore space we must have proof of life on other planets
to have proof of life on other planets we must explore space

personally, god or not, we already exist in space.
Our land is on the Earth, which is part of a Solar System, in a Galaxy, in Space =o

but in all seriousness, yes, I believe that we should explore. Look at overpopulation and world hunger, what if we found a way to populate other planets as well? And with our knowledge of ecosystems and environments, perhaps they'd last better than the Earth did. Etc...etc...

Holkeye · February 25, 2009, 03:27:29 PM

I think it's funny how in sci-fi movies and video games, there are always plots like, "These aliens have been moving across the galaxy and taking over planets for years. Now the humans have to kill them all because they want to conquer Earth." The truth is, what do we think we would be doing if we had some type of long-term space travel? We'd be fucking shit up on a planet, and then moving on to the next. Don't get me wrong, I think space exploration is a cute idea. But not for us to find some new place to take over. As far as our "knowledge of ecosystems and environments", I'd agree if our knowledge wasn't how to destroy ecosystems and use up environments. If there is anything out there, and I believe there is, they'll find us. We won't find them.

tSwitch · February 25, 2009, 03:47:56 PM

Quote from: Holk on February 25, 2009, 03:27:29 PM
I think it's funny how in sci-fi movies and video games, there are always plots like, "These aliens have been moving across the galaxy and taking over planets for years. Now the humans have to kill them all because they want to conquer Earth." The truth is, what do we think we would be doing if we had some type of long-term space travel? We'd be fucking shit up on a planet, and then moving on to the next. Don't get me wrong, I think space exploration is a cute idea. But not for us to find some new place to take over. As far as our "knowledge of ecosystems and environments", I'd agree if our knowledge wasn't how to destroy ecosystems and use up environments. If there is anything out there, and I believe there is, they'll find us. We won't find them.

Well, we know enough to be able to preserve an environment properly, if humans weren't all greedy bastards :/

Holkeye · February 25, 2009, 04:36:23 PM

"We were hunters and foragers. The frontier was everywhere. We were bounded only by the Earth, and the ocean, and the sky. The open road still softly calls. Our little terraquious globe as the madhouse of those hundred thousand millions of worlds. We, who cannot even put our own planetary home in order, riven with rivalries and hatreds; Are we to venture out into space? By the time we're ready to settle even the nearest of other planetary systems, we will have changed. The simple passage of so many generations will have changed us. Necessity will have changed us. We're... an adaptable species. It will not be we who reach Alpha Centauri and the other nearby stars. It will be a species very like us, but with more of our strengths, and fewer of our weaknesses. More confident, farseeing, capable, and prudent. For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness. What new wonders, undreamed of in our time, will we have wrought in another generation? And another? How far will our nomadic species have wandered by the end of the next century? And the next millennium? Our remote descendants, safely arrayed on many worlds through the solar system and beyond, will be unified by their common heritage, by their regard for their home planet, and by the knowledge that whatever other life there may be, the only humans in all the universe come from Earth. They will gaze up, and strain to find the blue dot in their skies. They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of raw potential once was. How perilous, our infancy. How humble, our beginnings. How many rivers we had to cross before we found our way."

-Carl Sagan

Chase_Leader · February 25, 2009, 04:56:08 PM

I do agree with the fact that we have learn how to save our planet from Global Warming or Climate Change first before we establish life on the moon or on mars...we know how to Terraform a planet to an extent, however the only way we can do that it is by Polluting the planet first...and that is exactly how we got to the state our planet is in. Then do we have a right to live on another planet and advance further into space?

NASA already has plans to have man living on the Moon and Mars within the next 30 years...In doing so learning more about our Solar System and Milky Way Galaxy...

So is it worth it to advance further into space and gain a better understanding of our universe or slow down and take a step backwards to recover (if possible) from the damage we have done to our own planet?

tSwitch · February 25, 2009, 05:33:39 PM

Quote from: Holk on February 25, 2009, 04:36:23 PM
"We were hunters and foragers. The frontier was everywhere. We were bounded only by the Earth, and the ocean, and the sky. The open road still softly calls. Our little terraquious globe as the madhouse of those hundred thousand millions of worlds. We, who cannot even put our own planetary home in order, riven with rivalries and hatreds; Are we to venture out into space? By the time we're ready to settle even the nearest of other planetary systems, we will have changed. The simple passage of so many generations will have changed us. Necessity will have changed us. We're... an adaptable species. It will not be we who reach Alpha Centauri and the other nearby stars. It will be a species very like us, but with more of our strengths, and fewer of our weaknesses. More confident, farseeing, capable, and prudent. For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness. What new wonders, undreamed of in our time, will we have wrought in another generation? And another? How far will our nomadic species have wandered by the end of the next century? And the next millennium? Our remote descendants, safely arrayed on many worlds through the solar system and beyond, will be unified by their common heritage, by their regard for their home planet, and by the knowledge that whatever other life there may be, the only humans in all the universe come from Earth. They will gaze up, and strain to find the blue dot in their skies. They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of raw potential once was. How perilous, our infancy. How humble, our beginnings. How many rivers we had to cross before we found our way."

-Carl Sagan

that was awesome

:) · February 25, 2009, 07:57:44 PM

If there was something out there, and it was meant to find us, wouldn't it have done it by now? yes - which is why nothing is out there, its there for our imaginations and exploration, not aliens

Chase_Leader · February 25, 2009, 08:52:34 PM

QuoteIf there was something out there, and it was meant to find us, wouldn't it have done it by now? yes - which is why nothing is out there, its there for our imaginations and exploration, not aliens

No, the odds of something finding Earth out of all the Trillions and Trillions upon Trillions and Trillions of planets and stars it is next to impossible, BUT indeed probable.
Each star in the sky is either a close by planet or galaxy...there are countless stars in the sky...each galaxy has Millions upon Millions of planets...

EACH of those planets, in order to support life (as we know it), has to be at the right spot during the right time in its life cycle...even then it will take millions of years to establish sentient life forms.

Also they did find water on mars, meaning that it at least once supported life or still does support microbial life forms.
So what it comes down to it...we are the Aliens...if we do find life it will be microbial if anything...

We may or may not find life, thats really not the question.

Kathryn · February 25, 2009, 09:18:26 PM

Personally? Maybe we are, maybe we aren't. Were we meant to travel the oceans? Was there a reason Pangaea (If it did exist) split apart? In my opinion, we can try, i guess. As for books about space - THEY ARE DRUGS. seriously. Makes everything seem so small...

Holkeye · February 26, 2009, 12:53:53 AM

Read A Short History Of Nearly Everything. There's a section in there about the probability of life on another planet. I can't remember the exact formula, but even if you favor the odds against, the results still come up as more than 50% that there is life elsewhere.

Sophist · February 26, 2009, 01:07:06 AM

I do think Carl Sagan has said it best.

Quote from: Carl SaganThe Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

Chase_Leader · February 26, 2009, 12:18:58 PM

But then again, what about overpopulation?
If there Earth becomes over populated would it then be worth it to restrict the limits of how many children we have or to attempt to travel further, perhaps to mars, to attempt to establish life there...granted our coldest day is their average high temperature...but I think we could make it...

We are at a point here in America where there are more people being born than dying...With that we have that many more cars on the road polluting our air and thus making the hole in the ozen layer worse than it already is...If we don't do something we will die of solar radiation or over population and illness... As of right now there is no real way to heal the ozone layer...only ways to prevent it from getting worse, and we are failing to do that...

So yeah, its either overpopulation, pollution and solar radiation, or we attempt to risk our lives go into space and try to find a new place to live...

tSwitch · February 26, 2009, 01:54:57 PM

Quote from: Chase_Leader on February 26, 2009, 12:18:58 PM
But then again, what about overpopulation?
If there Earth becomes over populated would it then be worth it to restrict the limits of how many children we have or to attempt to travel further, perhaps to mars, to attempt to establish life there...granted our coldest day is their average high temperature...but I think we could make it...

We are at a point here in America where there are more people being born than dying...With that we have that many more cars on the road polluting our air and thus making the hole in the ozen layer worse than it already is...If we don't do something we will die of solar radiation or over population and illness... As of right now there is no real way to heal the ozone layer...only ways to prevent it from getting worse, and we are failing to do that...

So yeah, its either overpopulation, pollution and solar radiation, or we attempt to risk our lives go into space and try to find a new place to live...

we'd need some sort of giant space colony so that by the time we find a suitable world our grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren will be able to make it safely.

Well...unless we can perfect light speed travel

call me selfish, but it doesn't matter to me. I won't see it in my lifetime, so I'm not worried about it.

Chase_Leader · March 10, 2009, 02:11:13 PM

Technology is getting better everyday it seems, so we could very well see it in our life time...with all the work and effort thats being put into the International Space Station...I think we could have colonized life in space in about 30-40 years granted I would be about 50-60 years old but that would still be an incredible achievement. And if we can get life in space...by then I would like to think that there would be a stable mode of transportation...maybe it we would be exploring our own Galaxy by then...

I am optimistic that it COULD be possible within our lifetime, I'm just not sure I would want to leave Earth...I think that even if we have stable life in space I wouldn't feel right living there...kind of a bad vibe about it...

By then people might think of me as some stubborn old guy who doesn't want to change his ways (I can't think of the word for that term) but thats my reason for not wanting to go into space...a bad vibe(thats my prediction something bad will happen in space, I am calling it right now...after a hundred years of life in space something bad will happen)...IMO you have to trust your instincts.

SolstICE · March 10, 2009, 03:50:04 PM

I think we should stay out of it until human race stops being so greedy wasteful violent and destructive. we will just be plague on other planets until then

Moss. · March 10, 2009, 04:43:53 PM

If we're smart enough to make it out there, I think we deserve to be there.

Holkeye · March 10, 2009, 11:47:55 PM

It has nothing to do with intelligence or sturdier means of transportation. The closest star to us besides our own is so far away, that it would take a human being several lifetimes just to get started.

Moss. · March 11, 2009, 02:12:40 AM

Oh, the thread was titled "do we belong on the nearest star"? My bad.

I was being facetious anyway, if I were actually invested in this argument I'd go into more detail than some bullshit answer like that. Kind of like how I am now taking your post too literal and arguing on false pretenses just to amuse myself, really.

Have fun, kids.

Holkeye · March 11, 2009, 02:20:13 AM

Good job.

Chase_Leader · March 11, 2009, 11:39:59 AM

QuoteHave fun, kids

Fine we will, even though your only about 2 years older than I...(can't stand when people call other people kid regardless of their age...oh well its just a harmless debate not an argument...back to having fun!)

Actually we don't have to make it to the closest star to start life in space...
Everyone should look into the International Space Station...
They already have plans and blueprints for modules people can live in that would be connected to the International Space Station...the space station is almost complete and the modules have been heavily tested...so like I said we will have colonized life in space within the next 100 years or so...that would be our kids and grandkids life time!

We are already smart enough to be in space, we are already have the means to get into space also...
RIGHT NOW you can travel into space for a small price of about 2 BILLION Dollars...literally!
And that is just for the Super Rich but it is expected to get cheaper with each passing decade...

Its not a question of intelligence or transportation...we already have that...its a matter of DO WE BELONG IN SPACE?
We are already in space...do you think we will stay in space...what about running out of fuel? what about all the risks involved? (read the first post)...if the space station slows down to much it could plummet to Earth...

Link · March 11, 2009, 01:21:54 PM

Quote from: Chase_Leader on March 11, 2009, 11:39:59 AM
QuoteHave fun, kids

Its not a question of intelligence or transportation...we already have that...its a matter of DO WE BELONG IN SPACE?
We are already in space...do you think we will stay in space...what about running out of fuel? what about all the risks involved? (read the first post)...if the space station slows down to much it could plummet to Earth...

The moon could also, it isnt the case of, 'running out of fuel'

Satellites stay above planets due to the speed that rotate themselves and the speed they rotate around planet they are above and the distance away from the planet they are so as long as they have their calculations right the only risk i can see is it hitting the moon or a stray asteroid hitting it.

Chase_Leader · March 11, 2009, 01:32:39 PM

QuoteSatellites stay above planets due to the speed that rotate themselves and the speed they rotate around planet they are above and the distance away from the planet they are so as long as they have their calculations right the only risk i can see is it hitting the moon or a stray asteroid hitting it.

Yes speed, the space station will gradually slow down as it orbits the Earth because of how low it is in our atmosphere...so it needs to stay at a constant speed to prevent it from crashing to Earth. If Earth runs out of fuel then we can't get into space, meaning that if something happened to where the Space Station went slightly off route it could crash into Earth killing many many people. The only reason its in low orbit is because of all the space debris that is no longer in use or was discarded from old space missions.

The Moon would not be an issue, its way to far away from the moon