/sci/ - Science & Math

>>14848349 (OP)
Because the closest evidence we have to divine providence, is that there's only been six major global extinction events, and not six thousand, given everything we've discovered that could end this biosphere - many in a heartbeat and without warning.

Then, every once in awhile, we INVENT a new one, such as nukes and biological warfare, among others both in the pipe and already out of the box.

So, if you care about the long term survival of humanity, you want to get to populating other planets, and eventually other solar systems, as soon as fucking possible, before one of those myriad of things happens.

There's also that yearning for a new frontier. A real opportunity to create new types of government and civilizations, that simply cannot happen at any real scale on such a thoroughly claimed and interconnected planet.

>Human over population is not really a thing anymore.
It is, but colonization isn't a solution, as there's no way you're taking a significant portion of the population to another world. At best you're going to be seeding a new world with tiny portions of the population, and maybe eventually regularly traveling back and forth, though probably not by the billions.