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.
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timeasmymeasure
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