Time to leave earth?

Elon Musk, NASA, Stephen Hawking are just some leading thinkers and institutions who claim that humanity should prepare to colonize to other planets. Humanity is on a collision course. Just looking at the Dutch politics is not even encouraging. The main themes that are considered  for the elections are refugee issues, economy, health care and security. Any other kind of vision, for example the attention for a destructive mindset, are ignored by men and women. Of course, there are a few exceptions. The Dutch citizen does not want to think ahead and look beyond existing theories. It is sad and unfortunate that our society evolved this way. But there is still hope. We as humanity with our technological expertise colonize other planets according to Musk, NASA and Stephen Hawking.

Mars is a fixer-upper of a planet, but we could make it work. And honestly, even if we can’t make it work, it seems that we have no real choice but to try. I agree this is an unlikely outcome, but if we don’t keep improving technology every year, we won’t get there (Elon Musk, 2016)

Colonize planets

In the meantime, NASA has launched the so-called Space Technology Research Institutes (STRIs). Their purpose is to investigate in the opportunities of colonizing other planets. We are already doing this kind of research for decades, but this is dedicated to live on other planets. Stephen Hawking claims that humanity has no longer that 1000 years on this planet. A fatalistic view on how humanity faces its future. The next five years, STRI should provide significant results. This with collaboration of other established universities. Nowadays the internet explodes with all sorts of moon shots.

NASA paid 30 million to both of the institutions. With this money, the so-called Center for Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES) does research the possibilities of our journey towards a possible new planet. The other institute is called Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design (US-COMP). They focus on the resources we need in space.

The worst fears of leading thinkers are resistance against climate change, antibiotic, and of course, a nuclear way. It is clear that more and more rich people on this planet want to have a backup plan when it all goes wrong. A backup plan is only for the elite.

More information about the future of technology?Feel free to contact Extend Limits for a lecturer organised by international leading trendwatcher Tony Bosma.