Daniel said:
"Then all you are doing is expressing concern for the survival of humanity on a racial or species level - the most abstract level possible. It would be much better to do what we can to develop forewarning for people living NOW, and also encourage revision of practices in building structures and locating settlements. That might sound like a tall order but it's actually a lot easier, ie within our technical capacities, than going to other planets, far less terraforming them. We have only gone to the moon, and even that was extremely risky."

J--I agree that: "It would be much better to do what we can to develop forewarning for people living NOW"
The problem is that people do not seem to understand or listen to each other especially when it comes to "forewarning". How many people will believe you if you tell them that the world is coming to an end?
It may sound easier to convince people to prepare for the "end" than to research and develop "mass transit to space" but to put such "preparation" into action will be much more difficult than building the "mass transit".

D--"So, that argument is silly and irritating for 2 reasons:
(1) We can be caring about people alive now and in the near future instead of some abstract pipedream which, face it, is NOT anywhere within present capacities.

J--I am all for caring about people alive now and in the near future, but I am also interested in the survival of the people in the far future.
The only reason the "pipedream" is not a reality is that we have not placed enough effort into the development of the ideas.

D--(2) The reason to go into space is to EXPLORE and to do science, and that is MORE THAN ENOUGH good reason for space travel. Why load the argument with facile abstract arguments for the survival of the species? We already have the capacities to improve the survival of humanity right here and now. Using that to argue for space travel is a bit like always pointing to the technical spinoffs from space research: people who argue that way are just too embarrassed to point to the real and proper words: "SPACE EXPLORATION"

J--I agree that EXPLORATION is necessary before making plans to move to another planet.

If this planet becomes uninhabitable to human life, then would it not be the right thing to do; to move and live on another planet?

Johannes