Finite Planet

The title 'one finite planet' can be mistaken to be yet another proclamation of how we live on this amazing planet which could even be unique, and we humans are foolishly placing it all at risk. Boring. No. Instead, the perspective is we are living on a planet that is naturally hostile to humans, where nature dictates only a limited total amount of life, can only exist for a limited time, and that time is almost at an end. When seen from this perspective, even the environment mission changes from just not interfering, to the more complex task of tackling the challenge of overcoming nature, while yes, quite importantly, not bringing life to an early end in the process.

It was recently suggested that "one finite planet" sounds like this site is yet another website dedicated what I label "righteous environmentalisms", and sustainability alone. But sustainability alone on a finite planet can be like treading water to avoid drowning: only a short-term solution and not much fun. Some people mistakenly feel that life on Earth might be better off without us humans, but that ignores the reality that the amount of all life on Earth has already halved from peak life and the most recent "garden of Eden event" was over 500 million years ago, and without intervention from the only species so far to have achieved accessorised evolution, life will die out anyway and sooner than most realise, with whales and mammals and other complex species the first to go. If we get it wrong, we could bring the end even sooner, but us humans getting it right is the only solution in sight. Instead of a focus on just maintaining the status quo as if time stood still, the focus of these pages is more how did we get here, where exactly are we now, and where should we head next. The conclusion at this time is …

There is a dream, often explored in science fiction, where humanity inhabits not just one planet, but many. While the dream is still centuries away, as is 'Earth 2.0', the reality, working towards small outposts on Mars or the Moon or even beyond is overwhelming compelling and can provide many rewards. Humanity may get back up outposts, but for centuries, will have no real second home, and over 99% of us will still need to live on our one finite planet.

What humans can perceive is not reality in full, but our own picture of reality, constructed by our brains from clues to reality collected by our senses. Science allows us to understand far more, and provides instruments to extend our perception, allowing continual improvement of our picture of reality, but know we do not yet […]

The actor Morgan Freeman has declared he is determined to produce a movie based on the novel ‘Rendevous with Rama’ by Arthur C Clarke.  Great Sci-Fi writers like Clarke are renown for their insights in to the possible future and this novel is no exception.  After again reading this novel I realised the insights into […]

Over the past 2 days I been given a view of the possible future of medicine, attending two lectures: ‘2084: Future Medicine’ and ‘Nanotainment‘. I will discus the actual presentations later, but the impact is that doctors as we know them and other current medical practitioners being will become obsolete other than for the treatment […]