Don't Go To Mars

I was watching a nature documentary yesterday and I started thinking about how connected we actually are to nature. We want to colonize Mars, and Elon Musk wants us to be an interplanetary species, but that line of thinking is flawed because we can't be an interplanetary species. We can only live on Earth. The first reason is that if we wanted to live on another planet we would need to bring materials from Earth to create Earth-like conditions. And second, we're way too greedy of a population to succeed anywhere else but here.

Humans can't survive in space, and we can't survive on other planets. We weren't designed for it, and the conditions anywhere else but on Earth are not conducive to life. My point is that we are so connected to Earth because we are a part of Earth, we are made of all the same stuff as all the other stuff on Earth and we need all the same stuff as all the other stuff on Earth. When you look at pictures of Earth that have been taken from space, you can't see humans. You can see land formations, you can see clouds and you can see water. Everything else is just on Earth.

If we, as humans, think we're more than Earthlings we're going to be in for a surprise. We are not more than Earth. Sure, we like to think that we're the smartest beings on Earth, but I'm not entirely sure. In fact, I am absolutely sure we are not the smartest beings on Earth. We are the only species that still doesn't know how to be what we are. Trees know how to tree. Sharks know how to shark. Crickets know how to cricket. They all know their roles, and they all know their limits. Humans are trying to push the limits. And while some people think it's pretty cool what we've come up with, I can't help but hear Mother Nature saying: "Oh that's cute!"

That isn't to say that we should just give up on trying to be all that we can be. I actually think we should work harder at becoming who we are. I think that we, on an individual basis, will be our best when we figure out what our best is and become what we were meant to become, but when we try to go beyond that Nature will have a way of sorting us out. We live in a time where the world just got it's first trillionaire. I can't even fathom what that actually means, and I honestly can't understand why a person with that much money doesn't share it, but that's why we shouldn't go to Mars.

The man who wants to colonize other planets is the same guy who has a trillion dollars, and I can't help but think that he wants to go to Mars purely for greed and just to say he did it. I am certain that humans would not fare any better on Mars than we are on Earth. Seneca says that if a man wants to change, he should change his nature, not his place. A man's troubles will only follow him. What kind of a person would be willing to give up everything they have and know on Earth to go colonize Mars? And what do we think that person, and those types of people are going to do when they get there? Starting a new colony, or a new community, with people who have the same values that they have on Earth is only going to create a social structure just like we have on Earth. And I am not convinced that we would do anything better anywhere else.

Before Capitalism humans lived in reciprocity with Earth. It wasn't easy, but humans weren't taking more than they needed and they gave back where they could. You'd be hard pressed to convince me that a person with a trillion dollars is going to promote a society that doesn't take more than they need and gives back where they can. Elon Musk is the beneficiary of capitalism and I image he thinks the system works fine. But when I look around at my friends, and fellow community members I'm not so sure that capitalism is working for everyone.

Literally everything we need is already here on Earth. I think instead of trying to create an Earth-like civilization on another planet we should figure out how to be better at being human and living in reciprocity with nature, instead of acting like we're separate from it.

I read somewhere that plants are sunlight embodied, and I think that's a beautiful concept. Plants are the only organisms that can make food from sunlight. Everything else needs to eat plants. Even Earth's Trillion Dollar Man needs to eat plants. And the animals he eats, eat plants too. Plants don't grow anywhere else (that we know of), and I kind of love that because it reminds me that I'm not more than plants. None of are. We use them, we eat them, we abuse them, we take them for granted, and yet, they sustain us. Instead of trying to colonize another planet, as Donald Trump would say, we ought to be more thankful!