It seems to me that it would take all the resources on Earth plus a One World Government to attempt to build a galaxy-going colony which could set up a viable existence on another world outside the solar system.  It’s unimaginable that the private property people won’t go to the grave grasping everything in their cold, dead hands, unwilling to contribute to a common effort.

So, if we really did want to see to it that life had a chance to persist in this Universe it would make sense to send off Life Lite, some generic, basic DNA which would have a chance of replicating if it hit water somewhere.  Ship those off toward selected planets on a trajectory which would intersect those planets.

Clearly there would have to be some way to compensate for or absorb radiation, but so would something which carried humans.  There would have to be a mechanism to open the container as it neared the planet.  Then the DNA would have to be in a form which could survive entry through an atmosphere.

This isn’t as sexy as trying to ship humans off, but it has a chance.  Humans are so dependent upon  so many things we don’t have a chance of building a vehicle or surviving the trip.  On the trip we’d need medicines, food, spare parts, and skills.  We’d need physicians, surgeons, physical therapists, glues, fabrics, drugs, all manner of complicated aids and ways to train and make them.  And if we got there, we need so much to live and thrive and who knows what’s there.  Is there oxygen?  What’s the radiation like?  Temperature?

I realize I’m talking about todays technology, and I also know I’m talking about bodies which have had billions of years to evolve and adapt to this Earth.  And won’t do well anywhere else.

I don’t think mankind is selfless enough to build a spaceship for humans, and I don’t think mankind is selfless enough to send off DNA to try to ensure life anywhere else.  But I suspect that some race, somewhere, was and that’s why we exist.

We don’t have two chances.  It’s this place or else for the foreseeable future.  Unfortunately in the foreseeable future it will change faster than we can adapt.