Milliongenerations:Motivation

Why milliongenerations.org?

Life is wonderful. The realization of our own existence creates the hope that others will continue to share it.

Is there a problem?

Perspectives on the survival of civilization on this planet for even a few hundred or thousand more years tend to be pessimistic. History provides plenty of examples of collapsed civilizations and we have consumed most easily accessible resources.

Stephen Hawking favors manned space flight because he maintains that our only chance of long term survival is to spread into space. Jumping solar systems and consuming planets would be a longer phenomenon than just staying on earth. In a matter of a about a million years livable places in the galaxy would be expected to be consumed, unless someone found ways to continue on a longer perspective. Finding ways to continue on this (or any other) planet while favorable conditions exist offers a longer perspective and would postpone a miserable ending for those left behind almost indefinitely. It would also give much more time to make the jump feasible.

milliongenerations.org asks what follows if one assumes that civilization manages to continue sustainably. And someone may come up with inspiring ideas and we may find that it actually is feasible after all.