[marricks]

Comparing the odds that we will destroy it with global warming or nukes is tough though. Seems like we may well be the arbiter of it's doom.

Plus, what if we do leave? Do you think our governments are really progressing towards that Star Trek enlightened super government, or are we progressing toward some sort of Orwellian nightmare? What would humanity look like when it colonizes more planets and leaves? Would we be the good aliens or bad aliens you see in sci-fi movies?

Right now we still seem like a species dominated by self interest, and it doesn't look like we're changing any time soon...

[markbnj]

Meh, climate change might make it more or less comfortable for us and other creatures, but it won't "destroy" anything, and I seriously question whether human beings, marshaling every last bit of technology we have at our disposal right now, even have the power to "destroy" the earth. I'm almost certain we do not.

One thing we do have, though, is the power to amplify our own significance. We've only been writing about what happens to us for 5000 years or so. There are Bristlecone pine trees nearly that old, and even that is just the tiniest little flash, so brief it is undetectable, in the time that the planet has been here.

[kiba]

There's a shit ton of matters we can convert into living space before we can even think of colonizing life sustaining planets.

[nickbauman]

We'll only seriously start responding to global warming when a significant part of Manhattan is underwater.

[jqm]

Eh, they'll just move everything to Denver and keep right on going. Cities have been covered with water many times before.