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Living on Other Planets - Reconstructed Lecture

davidsholz.com · 3,241 words · saved by 1 readers

Imagine you opened tomorrow's newspaper to find this headline: EARTH TO BE DESTROYED IN THREE HUNDRED YEARS. The cause might be a collision with another body, an internal explosion, or the Moon falling from its orbit. Not likely, perhaps—but let us use this as an exercise for the imagination. How would humanity take such news? At first, people would be thrilled—what drama! But the event would seem too remote to take seriously. Most would simply eat, drink, and be merry, pushing the problem to future generations. Gradually, however, realization would dawn. Three centuries is only ten or twelve generations. Some now living might have grandchildren who would see the end. Some, at least, would insist that humanity must continue. "The great adventure must go on!" they would say. Humanity is only a million years old. Its possible future spans thousands of millions of years—time enough to become something far finer than we are now. Consider the trajectory: from worm to fish to reptile to mamm

Living on Other Planets - Reconstructed Lecture Original Notes Reconstructed Lecture The Scenario: Earth's Destruction Prediction of earth's destruction (news heading) 300 years hence cause ?: collision ? bursting ? moon fall ? Not likely, but exercise for imagination. How mankind would take it thrilled too remote to be taken seriously eat drink & be merry gradual realization The Scenario: Earth's Destruction Imagine you opened tomorrow's newspaper to find this headline: EARTH TO BE DESTROYED IN THREE HUNDRED YEARS. The cause might be a collision with another body, an internal explosion, or th

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