Would your loved ones answer the clarion call?

"It would be nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there".

Thanks, but I have 1+ acres next to a park with nature trails, good
schools for my kids, and in general, ideal suburban living. I'd love to
visit a space station or a Lunar base or a NEO or... . But I wouldn't
want to live there, at least not in the foreseeable future. In the
foreseeable future, living conditions off-Earth are likely to be cramped,
boring, noisy, dangerous, etc. I'm not giving up what I have to go live
in a tin can for the rest of my life, a life that could be cut short at
any moment by any of a million different possible malfunctions. I'm 39
years old, and I'll probably be at least 60 before the number of humans
living off Earth tops 1000. Even then, I expect living conditions will
be spartan.

I'll be old and senile by the time living conditions off Earth become
enjoyable enough to live there long-term.

Ron

"victoriatangoman victoriatangoman@... 01/14/03 05:22 PM

--- In ssi_list@... "Combs, Mike"
>
> I suggest that you may be asking the wrong crowd. You're asking
a bunch
> of Westerners whose lives are already comfortable.
>
> Suppose instead that you ask a woman from Liberia, who fears that
her son
> may have his hands amputated by local thugs. Or suppose you
could ask
> some starving sucker from North Korea. Or suppose even that you
ask
> someone from Cuba, or even Mexico. (Each year many people lose
their
> lives coming to this country from Cuba and Mexico. Some die in
the heat
> in shipping containers crossing the Mexican border. Others drown
on
> rafts from Cuba.)
>
> Maybe everybody here's already seen it, but this article very much
ties in
> with the above:
> http://members.aol.com/oscarcombs/wannabe.htm
> http://members.aol.com/oscarcombs/wannabe.htm>
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Combs

Yes, I've seen the article on your website. In fact, it was in the
back of my mind as I pondered my question. Further, it was precisely
us Westerners that I was asking. How much sacrifice is the dream
worth? Is materialism a way of life that can't be shaken? Are family
ties unbreakable? Could a new family tree be started in orbit? Must
the meaning of our lives be valued against comfort and possessions
or does building a world, a society, being the founders of something
new, discovering a new way to live, being the vanguard of humanity,
do these compensate for the hardships? Could a better life be
fashioned in orbit, a new society borne, where your progeny would
enjoy wealth, privledge and knowledge unlike any found on Earth.
Does one think about the immediate and how does one weigh in the
intangibles in your own private calculus?

TangoMan