I've had the same email address for about a decade. I have many others as well, including Level_Head@LiveJournal.com which gets a few. But my filters -- more than 1000 of them -- do a fair job, and they are local to my machine so none get permanently killed.
I'm looking at the buckets now: last month, 66,640 (slightly less than 69,269 from the month before).
But more connected to your comment, perhaps, is that I AM trying to help the privatization of space for just that purpose. Even if some may have called me "squirrely" as a result. ];-)
Well, I'm an environmentalist myself, and it is my sincere hope that we can reach the stars without having made it the solution to an emergency here at home.
I find the notion that the prospect of interstellar travel somehow releases us from an obligation to preserve the Earth as best we can to be no moral improvement over the notion that it's OK to trash the environment because the Eschaton is just around the corner so it doesn't make a difference. After all, wouldn't it be great to have a healthy earth with clear air, clean water, and thick forests as the capital of an interstellar empire? ;)
There is no conflict but an imagined one. We probably did not leave the ridge in East Africa where humans originally developed (several times, sort of) because we had trashed it.
Exploration is a natural urge, and a useful one. It has served us well.
The "infestation", if you can call it that, is people. There is a traditional solution to that, but neither you nor I like war.
Besides, the "infestation" that you originally referred to is an ideal condition -- for fleas. ];-)
Emigration is going to be difficult when there's nowhere else nearby with ready-to-breath air. Domed cities and the like will take a lot of building and maintainance, and I doubt they'll grow in number anywhere near fast enough to dent Earth's population figures. Fixing Mars up might make more of a difference, but in time that would fill up and we're singing the first verse again. It's a seriously long hike to the planets of other stars. I can't see Space helping with population difficulties. It might ensure there are people still alive somewhere if we lose it enough to start letting off the really big artillery on each other. But I'm still sort of hoping it won't come to that. :(
I agree that settling space will not affect population levels on Earth to any significant extent. But building places with breathable air is straightforward enough -- we won't rely on planets; we will use asteroids and Moon materials to build homes in space.
Gravity wells are not all that exciting, anyway, just as one cannot remain forever in the womb.
In "Secrets of the Gnomes," a gnome warns humans of a dragon representing the Earth's contamination and destruction. It has seven heads: (1) LET THE FUTURE TAKE CARE OF ITSELF, (2) IT WILL LAST MY LIFETIME, (3) IGNORANCE IS BLISS, (4) AFTER US, THE DELUGE, (5) LET'S WAIT TILL IT HAPPENS, (6) IT WON'T BE SO BAD, and (7) COULDN'T CARE LESS. On the next set of two pages is an illustration of the dragon, with the general appearance of an ugly American.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 06:25 pm (UTC)===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 08:43 pm (UTC)I'm looking at the buckets now: last month, 66,640 (slightly less than 69,269 from the month before).
But more connected to your comment, perhaps, is that I AM trying to help the privatization of space for just that purpose. Even if some may have called me "squirrely" as a result. ];-)
===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 09:57 pm (UTC)I find the notion that the prospect of interstellar travel somehow releases us from an obligation to preserve the Earth as best we can to be no moral improvement over the notion that it's OK to trash the environment because the Eschaton is just around the corner so it doesn't make a difference. After all, wouldn't it be great to have a healthy earth with clear air, clean water, and thick forests as the capital of an interstellar empire? ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 10:12 pm (UTC)Exploration is a natural urge, and a useful one. It has served us well.
The "infestation", if you can call it that, is people. There is a traditional solution to that, but neither you nor I like war.
Besides, the "infestation" that you originally referred to is an ideal condition -- for fleas. ];-)
===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 10:27 pm (UTC)Only until the squirrels leave the nest -- then, it's famine.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 11:59 pm (UTC)Gravity wells are not all that exciting, anyway, just as one cannot remain forever in the womb.
===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 09:05 pm (UTC)Looked like a good summary to me.