On 12 Jul 2005 15:03:11 -0700, "Jordan"
wrote:

Matt Giwer wrote:

The buzz phrase 'exploration of space' has been around for so long it isn't questioned.

Well, it's shorthand for "exploring that part of the Universe which is
not the Earth." Which is to say, exploring the vast majority of
everything which exists.

The reason I find the notion that (barring extinction in the fairly
near future) our species _won't_ explore or colonize "space" to be
ridiculous is that it is equivalent to saying that our species will
remain stuck on Just One Planet, forever, despite an increasing ability
to venture beyond.

"forever" is a meaningless word. But before we take off to dig holes
in the stone of alien worlds which to live, we are going to need to
think of a reason why we couldn't just as easily dig holes in our own
planet and get everything in our native holes that we could in our
alien holes just as easily, if not more so. If we can't, any such
attempts at settlements will stagnate and wither.

This is also why I think that whichever culture or
cultures of our species succeed in colonizing other worlds will expand
to a degree that will render the stay-behind cultures numerically
insignicant.

Will they dig holes faster than the stay-behind cultures can?