The race to Mars. Mars is the new 'moon', with countries scrambling to get to the red planet, in the new ego race, a race generally lauded by the masses - a nationalist competition, driven by capitalist aspirations (important to highlight) , where countries are hoping to find an alternative planet for it's 'own citizens', when things go south on Earth, in the unknown future. What is the need, I wonder, to explore beyond the vast biosphere we call home? Other animals are content, they find ways to survive or they wither into extinction, and that is the way of the world, a process of decay, resurrection and survival. We have a beautiful planet that is plentiful, and forgiving - of the pollution ( read materialism - It wouldn't be unfair to compare ourselves to magpies, who are attracted to and hoard shiny new objects), and incessant destruction of flora, and consequently the fauna that depends on it. Yes, we have created problems here - pollution and climate change being the primary, but they can be solved, and their impact retracted through conscious effort and reignition of the genuine reverent devotion and attachment demonstrated by our ancestors towards our Earth, which has waned considerably as society has progressed towards modernization; And yet we are hunting for alternative pastures. Excuse the technical jargon (and the inappropriateness of devising an anology between a problem relating to the natural world and a man made construct) but in software, this is akin to throwing more hardware at a memory leak; If this planet (server/hardware) cannot handle our existence and our shortcomings, let's find another one and distribute the load, rather than fixing the memory leak, i.e., the damage human kind is inflicting on Earth. I wonder what this human effort, spent on getting to remote planets in a bid to finding conditions condusive to supporting human survival, by the brightest of minds, in person hours (read money) would lead to, if spent on concentrating on and tackling the issues, with the same level of populous support, back here at home light years away from that faint red blip in the night sky?
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