Why Should We Colonize Space?

October 6th, 2010

It came up in a post last week (and follow-up comments, thanks James Nicoll!) that E. O. Wilson thinks it would be a bad idea to colonize space, apparently because this is a “ruinously expensive” way to deal with overpopulation.   The big space colony days were in the 1970s, after we’d landed men on the moon (yes, really, Margaret Atwood), and Paul Ehrlich and others were pushing the idea that population growth was going to lead to the collapse of civilization in just a few years.   Like Malthus centuries before, Ehrlich’s predictions have failed to materialize due to a combination of economics, technology, and the use of contraceptives in the industrialized world (excepting maybe Catholics).

Anyway, overpopulation is one reason to colonize space, according to some in the past.   And lets include both space colonies and colonies on other worlds like the Moon and Mars under the heading of colonizing space. Recently Stephen Hawking has urged the colonization of space to help insure the human race from extinction, in the event something bad happens to Earth (e.g., asteroid impact):

The human race shouldn’t have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. [So], let’s hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load.

Let me propose that we should go because it is there and we are a curious species that demands new frontiers.   I’ll call this reason “the need to explore and learn to live in new environments.”

Let’s include reasons like escape as well.   There are places to seek political or religious asylum in the world, but maybe this is still a valid reason.

Science?   The far side of the moon is a great place to put future radio telescopes (as well as other kinds).   How about looking for life on Mars or the moons of Jupiter, and studying those worlds long term?

Hearkening back to the cold war, maybe we should go in order to compete against each other.   There may turn out to be economic boons, or just national pride on the line.   Call this “fear someone else will do it and benefit.”

Speaking of economic boons, there has been talk of mining asteroids.   Space hotels in low-Earth orbit may be able to make huge amounts of money down the line.   How about the possibility of microgravity manufacturing of rare materials?

Maybe you have some reasons I can’t think of.

I think we should do it for a combination of several of the reasons above, whether or not it makes the best economic sense. I suspect people who visit my blog are biased, but maybe we shouldn’t colonize space.   Maybe it’s a waste of money, lives, and more.   I mean, most people in the world live close to the coasts here on Earth rather than in less hospitable places like the mountains of Wyoming…

What do you think?

Why Should We Colonize Space?

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