X-Message-Number: 18854 Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 23:40:35 -0500 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: climate problems and human continuation Hi everyone! About exhausting the planet Earth: 1. First of all, I would certainly not be in favor of doing so. There are lots of nice things about Earth that we could not duplicate elsewhere. 2. HOWEVER if we are to continue to survive, even within the Solar System, there is no reason why we must rely upon planets at all. We build large (LARGE) space stations and live on them, separate from the Earth entirely. For that matter, nothing prevents us from using engineering to build enclosed habitats for ourselves on the planet Earth, if that proved to be necessary. Yes, we'd be giving up some nice features of current life, but we would not simply die, and could live quite long and healthy lives in such habitats. What is the point of this message? That even the worst we could do to the planet Earth would not cause the human race to come to an end. It would change our lives a lot, but that's hardly the same as annihilation. And those who confuse it with annihilation show either a lack of the will to live, or a total lack of imagination. Best wishes and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18854