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Extreterrestrial expansion is sort of inevitable, don't you think?
I'd be surprised if we don't see some kind of settlement in space within a hundred years, though I'm unsure about the specific sequence of progression. If we were to establish an extraterrestrial settlement, first we'd have to tackle the issue of essential resources: food, water, and oxygen. Would we focus our efforts toward synthesizing these resources locally at the site of the settlement itself or creating a system to ferry resources between Earth and the space site?
Although the scale is much different, I suppose there would be a lot to glean from how things are currently being done with the International Space Station, which I haven't looked into.
Then there's the topic of robots and how much human involvement would be necessary directly on-site. Of course, eventually a lot will be automated or remotely controlled, but I wonder about the initial endeavors. Would we even attempt a habitable settlement on Mars first, or would we first construct another habitable satellite like the ISS to orbit Mars as a kind of HQ?
But to be honest, I only really care about those kinds of massive, collective human endeavors as commentaries at the microscopic scale of my own life.
What are the motivations for our pursuits? How much of it is necessity, or curiosity about our limits, or intrigue about what's out there?
My anxiety issues have strongly encouraged me to stay risk-averse and pretty comfortable for years, but, especially over the past few months, I've been able to temper the anxiety more and more, allowing me to take more "risks" and make more concerted efforts toward the things I've been missing and wanting in my life.
Maybe it sounds retarded, but in a way it really does feel similar to colonizing space. It feels demanding but valuable, venturing toward the unknown. It's not easy, and that's a big part about what makes it worthwhile.