Survival

As you approach senior citizenship, things change. All the experiences and memories and thoughts pile up over the years, making us what we are, and what we later become. You start to think about what will happen after you are gone. I seem to have a sort of bias in favor of human existence continuing beyong this, my lifetime.

That is, it becomes increasingly important to me to believe that, after my demise in this form, humanity, in this plane of existence, will not only continue, but continue somewhat happily. By "happily", I mean a world relatively free from material want, despair, etc.

I was born in 1955. What will happen in 2055? If I aint around to find out, I want to believe that whatever happens will be progress for homo sapiens. Ultimate ethnocentricity. I,a human being,  loyal to the human species, in a universe filled with billions of species. And trust me, the universe, this galaxy, is filled with an incredible variety of life forms.

We baby bomers are aging and fading fast. So be it. We've had our shot. I want to believe that after I am dead humanity will conquer hunger, poverty, war, violence, disease....(you know the list as well as I.)...

...and create and build a perpetually evolving but sufficiently stable human culture to endure for millions, yes millions..of years. For that's how long it takes to be a successful species in this galaxy, let alone this universe.

Colonizing the moon and Mars, and developing interstallar flight is essential for long term human survival, and quite possible. But first, we must somehow make it to the year 2013...