Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
Do you need to insult my opinion in order to vaunt your own? Anyway, this is an interesting conversation but if you are going to condescend to me, why should I continue to discuss it with you?
I apologize if I had hurt you, that was not my intention. Usually, I'm pretty sarcastic when expressing my opinions, so I would appreciate if you could cut me some slack on that. This conversation is interesting for me too. Actually, I'm so interested in the topic that some time back I used to dig into the exobiology and exopsychology to get some better understanding of the topic.

Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
War is the way life on earth settles things. How do we know anything about extraterrestrial concepts...? They may not need to have a "war." They may not even recognize us as sentient beings and it could be like "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and they could just blast earth to put in a new highway. Who knows....? No one does.
That's true, no one does for sure until we actually have an experimental base, i.e. until we meet some extraterrestrials. However, the big question here is - should we do some thinking before that happens or should we actually not think about it? If we meet nobody, then the worst thing that happened - we've done some extra unnecessary thinking rather than having an allegedly meaningful discussions about, say, what exactly some politicians do with some service maids in the US hotels, which probably would not be that harmful. However, if we do meet someone and we are not prepared, our behaviour in that very first contact can change our future for better or for worse. Or cause our complete destruction as a race. Say, you go in the woods and you see a strange colourless mass slowly approaching you and making some sounds. What do you do? Stick your hand forward and hope the mass will think you offer good greetings? Believe it or not, but even the remote tribes on our own planets would interpret that gesture as an attack. With the possibly sad consequence for you personally and for our entire race which from that point on will be perceived as aggressive until that misunderstanding is cleared. If ever.

So, what the "exo" sciences are trying to do is to think what's common and what's unique and extrapolate what's common onto the unknown with some degree of probability.

Therefore, I think this topic is important and it also helps us to better understand ourselves. Regardless of the outcome, it's like learning the foreign language - you may not learn it properly, but in the end you understand your own language better.

So, let's discuss the "war" issue. You see, the evolution of bodies goes from the more primitive building blocks to the more complex in the way that the more complex are built up of the primitive blocks and combined in a certain way. That leads to the more complex organisms CONSUMING the bodies of the other organisms to extract the primitive building blocks in order to sustain their complex bodies in the most economical way. So, the sheep would not hunt the bunnies, but it would still consume the grass. So, when we're talking about the sentient extraterrestrial beings, we should realize the great chance of those beings consuming some other beings on their native planet thus being intimately familiar with the destruction of the foreign life in support of their own life. Which is a solid foundation for war. There should be something stopping those beings from war, otherwise the war would occur naturally. And the hostile environment may help (I mean our Earth environment may be hostile towards the extraterrestrials), but it might also not stop the war either, because those beings might want to "Exoform" our Earth the same way we want to "Terraform" other planets.

Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
I am realistic - that is why I think we should wait until we have evolved more, before we run off and contaminate or destroy places we do not fully understand yet.
I agree to a certain extent, however, let's think about it another way. Using the existing technology, it might take up to several hundred years before Mars could be inhabited by humans wearing no physiological protection. The longest processes are heating Mars and beefing up its atmosphere. Why not to start now? It will create the expectations, the market, the investments, the emerge of new technology, etc. Lots of benefits, what do you think?

Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
If all of these nations could, you know, work together, the issue of "who gets there first" would be irrelevant and resources could be evenly distributed. But I am realistic and I realize that is unlikely to happen. Humans are basically going to fight for every inch, instead of cooperate and logically and fairly divvy things up which would seem more rational. But humans are not very rational, are they?
Exactly. Humans (like some of the other organisms on our planet) are both competitive and cooperative based on the circumstances. So far the political systems based on the cooperation have lost to the competitive systems by almost all points.

Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
Yes, Helium will be in big demand shortly, because we need it to run MRI's and other life-saving technology, and Helium supplies on earth are almost exhausted.
A bit more than that. He-3 does not exist on Earth but is thought to be abundant in the Moon's regolith. He-3 is praised as the next-generation fuel for the fusion reactors which should satisfy the humanity's energy needs.

Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
America is not really in the "Space Race" like it used to be. NASA has been stripped to bare-bones and the shuttles have been retired. Private Enterprise wants to set up hotels orbiting earth to make money from the ultra rich, who are the only ones who will be able to afford to stay there.
All in good time. The space tourism will help to build the market, improve the technology to get to the orbit cheaper and safer, and the rest will follow.