A Difference of Perspectives

“Well that’s pretty obvious: it was the adventure of it. As Dr. George Mallory put it in regards to Mount Everest on old Earth: because it was there. Our ancestors had an opportunity to see the stars and so they did.”

“That’s not true. They left because they had to. The oceans were acidified, the atmosphere was getting too hot for comfortable habitation, populations were out of control, resources of all kinds were starting to run into the scarcity wall – need I go on?”

“You’re such a pessimist, Cyn. Humanity had been looking at Earth’s moon since they could look up to the stars. The desire to leave Earth was always present.”

“That’s true enough, Bright. Yet they left out of necessity. None of those billions of mongrels actually got up off their asses to explore a new solar system – or even a new planet in person – until their backs were up against it. With no choice left the evacuations then started.”

“Come now! The ancient combustion rocket-engine craft were exploring the moon and sent their probes to Mars. More than a hundred years before the evacuations the Deep Black and Yuǎn de Jiàn Tóu probes with the Shen-Fukawa FTL drives were exploring the closest star systems to Earth. Why? Because they could. It was an adventure. The same adventurous spirit which caused ancient Chinese to set sail to distant lands, the American pioneers to conquer their wilderness, and hundreds of early astronauts to reach up to ‘touch the face of God’ as they said.”

“Psh! Nonsense. The evacuations were a necessary act! We’ve been over this! The irradiated landscapes made an impossible task out of feeding so many people, renewable energies proved not to be the magical cure-all to the world’s energy crisis, and regional strife from ineffective governance pitted the best minds of humanity against one another. Those who didn’t kill each other had enough good sense to cooperate long enough to get themselves to safety. With that action the colonies were born.”

“Now who’s not telling the truth, Cyn? If that was the case: why were Rigel and Axis and Wangxia founded? Those were done long before the evacuations. I say it was because of the opportunity to explore. The human heart has always desired this, as my aforementioned examples prove.”

“Bright, you frustrate me… I can’t deny that truth. Perhaps the reason our ancestors left Earth was for multiple reasons, then.”

“I suppose I can agree to that notion. Humanity has rarely ever done anything for one reason alone.”

“Good then that's settled. However, as we sit here in orbit above this long-abandoned, poisonous mud ball I have to wonder: why did we come back?”