I bump into people on the street. I avoid getting run over by impatient drivers. I watch people pile into buses and trains. I wait in queues. There's no peace even at the library. And the noise! I listen to cars and trucks and all manner of noise all day and all night long and it's obvious to me that there are too many people on this planet!
I once thought that the reason scientists and politicians were so interested in space exploration was because humans were looking for God. But, no. It's real estate they're after. Apparently you can buy a piece of the moon. And now they say we're going to Mars. Wow! You mean all that money allocated to space exploration is to transport all (almost) 7 billion of us to Mars? But, no. That's silly. Half of us should stay here... Which half?... So, 3 (or so) billion people are going to Mars? That's a lot of domes and space suits and food and water and computers and i-pods and mobile phones...
Isn't it...
OK! I know this and you know this. A hand-full of very rich people are going to Mars. And they'll take all the "useful" people they can find. Scientists, doctors, horticulturists... servants. That's maybe 2 space-ships. Another just for water, (initially, until they can mine and process their own).
And occasionally they'll beam down to us, (the 6.6 billion of us left), live footage of them, let us know how they're going, you know, so we feel a part of it all. Nice of them. They'll say "Mankind has left Planet Earth and gone to Mars... Hallelujah!" And we'll all be so proud. Won't we? Or will we feel abandoned... Tricked...
Tricked into thinking that all this amazing technological advancement was for a "Jetson future", for us ALL. Us and the stars. And what will be the condition of Earth when those hand-full of people are safely away. Will they care? Or will it be a case of "out of sight, out of mind"?
Perhaps when the resentment fades we'll all pull together and save our Earth. Or not. And perhaps all those "important" people up there will realize they landed on a barren, red, rock, fall into despair and perish!
This is a call to start thinking sanely. We must "get real"!
We are Earthlings. We must live on and deal with EARTH. We are
not going to Mars. And if I were part of an extra-terrestrial inter-galactic council I would make sure that those endearing but hopelessly destructive humans stay right where they are!!!
R.Hood.