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Asked by felizadam to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 15 Mar 2012.
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Catherine Rix answered on 13 Mar 2012:
You are right, I don’t think colonising other planets would solve all the worlds problems. It could become important if we start running out of natural resources on Earth but I think it would be a difficult thing to do. We don’t have the right technology yet
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Leila Battison answered on 13 Mar 2012:
That’s a really important question!
We would hope that by the time we had developed the technology to move lots of people to another planet, we would have worked out a way to keep them all peaceful and happy. At the moment though, nobody is really trying to be peaceful, because society is ruled by money and oil.
I think if we got the chance to start again on another planet, we should try to get rid of lying and secrecy. If everyone was open with everyone else, then there would be no need to fall out over anything and everyone could be peacful. Nobel Peace Prize please?
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Adam Stevens answered on 13 Mar 2012:
I assume you mean that we’d be left with social issues on Earth, or do you mean on the new planets?
If it’s the first one, space exploration actually helps with social issues. It’s hard to see directly, but firstly space exploration is great for inspiration. Just imagine what might happen to political differences if a joint colonisation mission was proposed. Yes, there would be issues, there always are, but it would most likely be a very cohesive thing.
In addition, all the technology that you need for long space flights and for planetary colonisation would help us here on Earth.
On a spacecraft you need to get rid of the carbon dioxide produced by your astronauts – we’re looking for ways to get rid of CO2 on Earth…
On a spacecraft you need to be able to recycle your water – we’re looking for ways of reducing our water usage on Earth…
On a spacecraft you have limited living space – on Earth we are gradually getting less living space…
On a spacecraft you can’t talk all the food for a long journey with you, and need to work out ways of making or growing food in a confined environment – which could help solve food shortages on Earth…
On a spacecraft you need a cheap, reliable energy source, like good solar panels or safe nuclear reactors – just like we need on EarthAnd those are just some of the ways that space technology might help the people back home. There have already been a lot of technologies that have had a social impact that you might not realise.
There will always be social issues until everyone actually clubs together to sort them out. People will probably never agree on the best way to do that, but going into space would actually be one of the best ways to help out!
If you meant the second option, well, it’s a whole new world (literally), so who knows what might happen!
If you’re interested, I would highly recommend Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy It deals with the political and social issues that come up from colonising Mars.
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Karen Masters answered on 13 Mar 2012:
Well people are people everywhere, so I suspect you’re totally right.
One solution we are not making the most of (in my opinion) is to educate people. There’s been some great work in the developing world which shows a clear link between reducing poverty and education – particularly the education of girls. It seems to be the case that if girls believe they have a the potential to have an interesting job in their future (which you all should) they will generally have less children and have them later in life when they are better able to take care of them (financially and in other ways). And while children are great (I have two and I wouldn’t be without them however challenging they make my life), having lots of children and living in a slum is not something I think anyone wants in their future.
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Comments
Adam commented on :
PS. Awesome profile.