Reason for Existence
One of the greatest assets humanity has is its diversity. With that come different motivations for working toward the objectives of the Living Universe Foundation. The inspiration for expansion that comes from the people whose focus is on their children will be different from those whose focus is on their immediate circumstances, or those who think in terms of the decades and centuries to come.
Immediate Concerns
Today poverty, crime, war, corruption, and environmental destruction plague this world. Recent global statistics show that 1 in 7 people do not have enough food, 1 in 4 people do not have access to electricity, and 1 in 2 children live in poverty. In terms of wealth, the richest 1% of the population holds 40% of the global assets, while the poorest 50% has only 1% of all assets. It is not that the Earth’s resources are too limited, or that humanity is technically incapable of meeting our cumulative needs, rather it is that we have made the choice not to. We are currently paralyzed by materialistic values and the fear of scarcity.
This can change. By utilizing plans that focus on the development and implementation of renewable energy sources and the encouragement of life for agriculture, true abundance can be created within the currently available technology levels and governance systems. The investments and work associated with such projects will also stimulate exponential economic growth. Progress on all of this can begin now. In fact, it already has. This vision of abundance and the actions we take today will act as a lantern; guiding a positive evolution for our civilization to follow.
The Long Term
Each year that passes the scientific community presents more and more disturbing findings. The trendlines show movement towards an unavoidable climate change via environmental forces reacting to overpopulation, the unhealthy exploitation of resources and environmental destruction. This “unavoidable” change is unlikely to be beneficial to humanity. If this trend continues, our children will inherit an Earth incapable of providing the prosperity that many of us currently enjoy. But the reality is that this is not unavoidable.
Utilizing the core concepts of ocean and space colonies–structures that must be independently sustainable within defined environmental limitations–will solve many pressing problems. Earth is not infinite, we just treat it as such, and we can change that. Overpopulation can be alleviated by the development of these colony based practices, and when we start actually building on and in the oceans, or building in space or on the moon or other worlds, we can provide a nearly endless expanse of living space. The need to recklessly consume resources will be eliminated once colonies are constructed that reuse and recycle everything. Environmental destruction on Earth will be curbed by the use of renewable resources and carbon sequestration in food and energy production. Although many of these benefits can be achieved today, it will require a global community to implement the solutions on the required scale.
The Really Big Picture
While debating the existence of aliens is a stimulating academic exercise, the fact is there is not a single piece of irrefutable evidence of extraterrestrial life. As far as we know, we are alone.
The only spark of life that we know of in the universe is vulnerable to being extinguished. While improbable, a number of life-ending events such as a rogue asteroid or a nuclear war could end all life on Earth. Individually, the likelihood is small, but when we add up all of those potential events, we can see that life has all its eggs in one basket. The risk inherent to this situation is unacceptable.
By enabling humanity to colonize space, we will ensure that no single event will be able to wipe out not just human life, but all life. The objective must not be to simply protect humanity, but rather to protect as many varieties of life as possible. This is about ensuring the spread of the green force of life into an otherwise dead universe.