[gusgordon]

Given that there have been multiple mass extinction events in Earth’s history, it seems reasonable to spend a small fraction of GDP on colonizing another planet. How about something roughly equivalent to the amount we spend on chapstick?

[morsecodist]

This always seemed an odd motivation to me. I am not really attached to the idea of the species continuing in the abstract, my concern about a mass extinction event would be all of the individual living humans that would die. It would be little solace to me that a handful of humans remain clinging to life on a distant rock. Investing in something like asteroid defense makes total sense to me but creating a colony as a sort of backup doesn't really.