Misadventures in Galactic Colonization

There is a vision of us as a multi-planetary species. It’s attractive & enthusiastic. It appeals to our innate desire for exploration, expansion, and progress. Musk says it’s essential to our long-term survival. He’s probably right.

Yet I cannot help but feel as though all we’re doing is spreading our proprietary brand of insanity. No matter how far we run across the interstellar plane, we’ll never escape our nature. If we don’t value self-understanding, how can we seek to settle the stars with a soft hand? As we’ve seen on Earth, a life of plunder demands a life on the run. Perhaps this grand adventure is a subconscious attempt to flee from ourselves.

The Fermi Paradox asks why we’ve seen no evidence of extraterrestrial life in spite of the high probability of its existence.

Perhaps it’s because any sufficiently advanced civilization embarks on a journey inward, not outward.