> I don’t equivocate visiting another planet or planets with saving the human sp...

bmitc · on March 4, 2021

That is a threat, but the time when humans can survive away from a destroyed Earth is so long away that I don’t understand how a fail fast attitude helps.

the_duke · on March 4, 2021

It wouldn't be that far off if we had the money and motivation.

We could probably have a mostly self sustaining colony in caves on Mars within ten years , if we really wanted to. It would just take an absurd amount of money and singular focus and dedication by governments and companies.

jfk13 · on March 5, 2021

> We could probably have a mostly self sustaining colony in caves on Mars within ten years

Even if that's true (which I highly doubt), a "mostly" self-sustaining colony won't last long if a catastrophe cripples human life on Earth.

hntrader · on March 4, 2021

> so long away

Even if it'll take 500 years to achieve, which seems longer than realistic, that's still the blink of an eye on a cosmic timescale.

A comet or asteroid could hit us at any moment and cause our extinction. That's one example of a planet-specific existential risk.

Diversifying life across multiple planets would make it much more likely that we'd survive as a species if something like this happened.