Honestly, I don’t think we’re ready, as a species. We may never be. Every time it starts to look like some subset of us could become halfway civilized, the rest of the crabs pull us back down into the pot. (Civilized is the wrong word, the most “advanced civilizations” have been among the most horrible and least worthy to go anywhere off-world.)
As a species we’re much less horrible than we used to be. Human sacrifice is relatively rare, war is generally seen as bad, many people have the right to choose their government, etc
But we are much more powerful than at any time in the past, and we’re using that power to destroy our home.
Well, fuck. Back to square one. Goddamnit, I really hope that one day humanity will leave its cradle in the Milky Way.
Honestly, I don’t think we’re ready, as a species. We may never be. Every time it starts to look like some subset of us could become halfway civilized, the rest of the crabs pull us back down into the pot. (Civilized is the wrong word, the most “advanced civilizations” have been among the most horrible and least worthy to go anywhere off-world.)
I think this is because you need a mix of two incompatible things.
You need a kind caring civilization, and it needs to be technologically advanced.
The way civilizations have advanced historically is not by being kind and caring.
As a species we’re much less horrible than we used to be. Human sacrifice is relatively rare, war is generally seen as bad, many people have the right to choose their government, etc
But we are much more powerful than at any time in the past, and we’re using that power to destroy our home.