This is all we've got, by @DavidOAtkins

This is all we've got

by David Atkins

For reference, this is the size of our planet compared to various stars, including our sun:



And here's how this planet scales compared to the universe:



This little speck of ours, Sagan's pale blue dot, is all we have. It's our own common possession and our one common heritage. If relativistic mechanics holds up as a barrier, the solar system and maybe a few other stars are all we'll ever have, and the challenges of terraforming anywhere else are enormous.

The idea that God cares what we do with our private parts, or who owns what particular parcels of land in this context is utterly ludicrous. There are likely millions of planets teeming with life more and less advanced than human beings. If we extinguish ourselves we'll have no one but ourselves to blame, and nothing out there will care or miss us when we're gone. We have the tools to destroy ourselves and most every other living thing on the planet. We're already well on our way to getting there.

The world-destroying challenges we face are so enormous at this point that anyone who doesn't get this concept loud and clear needs to be removed from every position of power. Every government that tries to limit human potential in the cause of some delusional neanderthal philosophy of selfishness or racial and sectarian dominance must suffer the fate of Ozymandias.

The stakes are too high to allow the stupidities of the past to prevent us from salvaging our future. This is our only home. We can't allow the idiots to wreck the place.



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