Re: space, the frontier
Thank you , DA, for your arguments.
They make us think a bit more.
What we should indeed consider are several facts:
There is no Earth-like planet anywhere near.
Light has a speed limit and it cannot be exceeded.
It should be wise for our human descendants (who will still live on Earth), to shape their non-human successors in such a way as to make them at ease with space.
Space should become their home. THey might travel or not, but at least they would not depend on rocky worlds with atmospheres. They should be adapted to the biggest and most available environment : space !
THis way, they won't need to settle, they'd be armed against any type of environment (except inside stars;-) and would ultimately, be freer than anything known so far.
Raoul