There is only one Home
I love science fiction because it makes fantasies possible. When you read well-written science fiction stories with solid hard science as base, it just seems that one day it could all really happen. Traveling to the stars, finding new realms — it could be within our grasp.
Science fiction presents a vision in which human beings are a citizen of the stars, living on many planets all around the universe, but if there’s one thing I know for a certainty, it’s that there’s no other HOME.
In the whole universe, Earth is the only planet that we can call ours. There is no other world in this universe that will be like Earth for us. No other world can be as hospitable or as comfortable as our lovely HOME.
It’s not about the size or the color temperature of our sun; or about the distance or the inclination of the Earth’s orbit; or even about the gravitational pull and the unique mix of elements.
Earth, life, and our existence is a product of innumerable factors, innumerable random events; manifestations shaped by chance and fortune. It is not just our home, but also the mother which gave birth to our species and civilization. It is the producer and we are the product, perfectly adapted to exist and thrive here.
No other planet no matter how physically similar it is to Earth, or how well it matches its orbit and mass; can be the home that Earth is for us. It cannot support life as we know it. We may live there by engineering the environment but it can never be our home.
Maybe if everyone of us thought about this a little more, and the economy a little less, we could work towards a better existence for humanity in our HOME instead of bigger and bigger GDP.
Earth gave us intelligence, now let’s pray for wisdom.
August 11th, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Very well written,but how one can be so certain about anything in sf?:)
August 12th, 2011 at 6:01 pm
Arvind ji, trust me. There’s only one home.
September 21st, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Earth just suits our requirements perfectly now. There is no need to go anywhere else if people would stop growing drastically and stop wasting resources.