Regardless of if you believe that humans were placed here by a divine being(s) or evolved on this world, you have to agree that we humans are almost perfectly adapted to this planet. Even in the harshest spots on our planet, from the coldest, to the warmest, you will find outposts of humanity. In some cases, such as Antarctica, they're merely scientific outposts, in other cases, such as the remote Easter Islands, or the ice fields inside the Arctic Circle you will find societies who've lived there for a thousand years or more. Contrast this with the Moon or Mars, or any of the other bodies in our solar system, which have shown themselves to be the harshest environments known. The airless Moon, frigid Mars, and hellish Venus, aren't merely hostile to our form of life, they are instantly fatal. On the Moon or Mars, were you to suddenly find yourself dropped onto those worlds naked, you would be subjected to boiling, freezing, and suffocation as you expired. Venus would be little better. The crushing atmosphere, acidic air, and high heat would cook, implode, and poison you, all at the same time. Even when our ancestors first migrated out of Africa, some one hundred thousand years ago, they needed little more than stone tools and animal skins to help them survive. There was air to breathe, water to drink, and game to hunt. With the addition of some simple boats, the Polynesians were able to not only sail the oceans, but establish new colonies, which were quickly able to survive on their own. By contrast, on those few occasions when we have attempted to leave our fragile planet, to orbit the Earth, or to touch the surface of the Moon, it has not required something as simple as a humble boat made of reeds. It has taken the industrial capabilities of the mightiest nations the world has ever known, to make the attempt, and even then, those who left, could not stay for very long. Their ships might have been the most advanced things any human ever attempted, but they were incapable of doing more than getting our feet wet, in that cosmic ocean which surrounds us. When you look at our planet, one almost continually beset by war, famine, poverty, disease, environmental degradation, death, and ignorance, the idea of inflicting ourselves on other worlds, which are lifeless and pristine, seems foolish. Better that we stay here and solve our own problems, than to continue those other problems onto some other world, which to date, has not known war, poverty, famine, or the other things which currently threaten to tear down our civilization, and reduce us, if we're lucky, to the same levels known by our ancestors when they first left Africa, some one hundred thousand years ago. While the explorers of ancient times could bring back tales of wondrous animals and new crops, some sixty percent of which were not known to the peoples of Europe until after Columbus returned from the New World, modern explorers will not only have to take everything they need with them, such as food, air, water, and shelter, they know that there is no chance of finding the same level of comfort to be had at their destination, as can be found in the bleakest places on Earth. There is one thing, however, to be had on places like the Moon, Mars, or the moons of Jupiter, which is most needed on Earth, but cannot be found there, nor can it be found by machines being sent to those places by us. It can only be found by humans, fumbling around, tripping over themselves, and putting their lives at risk in ways which cannot be fully be imagined by us, here on Earth. Those new explorers will find the keys to our survival, by helping us to discover who we really are. On the Earth, you can pollute as much as you want, and the odds of you wiping out all presence of humanity on the planet in a short period of time are practically nil. On the Moon or Mars, or even just in orbit around the Earth, if you don't pay attention to your waste, it won't merely make you sick, it will kill you. The humans who leave Earth will not be able to act with impunity on places where the environment is as hostile as it is on Mars. Even if their goal is to transform Mars into a place where humans can live in the open, like they do on Earth, it will take centuries to do so. They will not so much be 'taming' Mars, as 'taming' us. Humans work best when dealing with problems that can be solved within a single lifetime or are related to events which happened within living memory. On a world as large as Earth, it is not always easy to observe the consequences of our actions when it may take generations for the impacts to be felt. A colony on Mars will not have that luxury, and even our best ideas may not be enough to sure our survival on the red planet, which is why we must go, and go soon. Only on a place as harsh and unforgiving as the Moon or Mars can we find the kinds of environments which test us so completely that we have to learn to give up on the foolish notions which presently threaten to destroy us. If something goes wrong, those colonists will not be able to blame it on any political party or religion, but on themselves. Unlike politicians, religious leaders, or business executives, they won't be able to say that they would have succeeded were it not for someone else. They will know, before they ever leave Earth, that their survival rests solely upon their shoulders and no one else's. Those of us unlucky enough to remain behind will be able to do nothing more than watch and learn. If the colonists are able to survive, our impact on the possibility will be less than if we wore the jersey of our favorite sports team on game day. But no matter if they, quite literally, live or die, we will learn from them, and in doing so, will ensure the survival of both ourselves, and our species. If, however, we choose to remain on this rock, then all of us, young and old will die. Sooner, rather than later. And we will die knowing that we had the chance to save ourselves, but chose not to take it. (Inspired by this thread.)
