EarthSeeds - Humanity's Ultimate Purpose in the Evolution of Life

Mother Earth has Come of Age

Earth has come of age and it is now time for it to sow its seeds throughout the cosmos in the hope that one or more of them will catch, begin to grow and flourish as life has here. It has taken planet Earth 4.5 billion years of time to reach this opportune moment. To become the "midwife" of Earth's seeds, humanity has undergone over 2 million years of evolution capped by the last 200 years of accelerated technological development and some 55 years of spaceflight experience.

The persistent flow of information about the deteriorating state of the biosphere and the alarming loss of biodiversity adds a sense of unprecedented urgency to the present situation. Having recently witnessed the impact of a massive comet crashing into Jupiter we are aware that cosmic catastrophes can and do happen. Knowing that they’re a still many thousands of nuclear weapons armed and pointed at our future is stark evidence that such a catastrophe need not be cosmic. Yet, even without a nuclear war there are many other scenarios in which humanity is becoming a threat to itself and to the future of all life on Earth.

To perpetuate our present civilization and indeed to promote the survival of humanity a concept called "The Space Option" (Bernasconi and Woods, 1993) has been developed. The Space Option is an evolutionary plan to utilize the enormous resources of space to meet both the growing needs of humanity and to promote the well-being of all life on Earth. As such, it is an optimistic solution to many of the problems facing humanity and all life on Earth as this century unfolds.

Implementing the Space Option will require the creation of an expanding infrastructure in space - and where humanity goes, it would surely take the "seeds of life" from planet Earth with it. However, despite all of the available information and the attractiveness of this concept, the Space Option has not yet been embraced by the space agencies. Even if they did, it could be that current political and environmental interests would prohibit its implementation. As long as there is money to be exploiting remaining petroleum reserves along with the lust power over resources and peoples resulting in perpetual wars, the urgency of the problem is not appreciated. Indeed the "window of opportunity" for the implementation of the Space Option may be rapidly closing. The human expansion into space - the dreams of the early space pioneers, the motivation of many space professionals - and the future for our children - seems less likely than ever to take place.

Thus, as the future of life from Earth in space may not necessarily be a "human future", and as it is imperative that life from Earth become established beyond its home planet in order to insure its ultimate survival, a program to sow the seedsof Earth - EarthSeeds - should be initiated as soon as possible. This very moment may be Earth's one and only chance to do so.

• 1993, Marco C. Bernasconi & Arthur R. Woods, Implementing the Space Option: Elaboration and Dissemination of a New Rationale For Space. (Parts 1 & 2) - Paper IAA.8.1-93-764 presented at the 44th International Astronautical Congress, Graz, Austria. October 16-22.