The task of humanity for the next epoch, that is 2000 years, is two-pronged.

One is to achieve a stable longterm equilibrium of humanity living in harmony with life on the planet Earth.

The second is to manage the expansion of life off planet. To build longterm biospheres on other planets, moons, orbiting constructs, and eventually in other star systems.

The justification for the first should be obvious. If humanity does not accept its role as planetary manager, the alternative is disaster and suffering on a grand scale, perhaps even the extinction of humanity.

For the second, one could say that the “will” of life is to expand and reproduce. If you don’t like the word “will,” think of it as a force. That’s just what life has always done. The biosphere could be thought of as a super-organism, so it also “wants” to expand and reproduce. Humans are part of the biosphere. The biosphere evolved a species, now considered by some taxonomists to be a kingdom of life, which works with symbols and can invent and use technology. Humanity, or Kingdom Symbolia, is the organ of the biospheric organism whose function it is to manage the reproduction and expansion of this super-organism. Cosmic midwives, as it were.

Some justify this by more anthropocentric thinking: if humanity does not expand off the Earth it could be wiped out by a cosmic scale catastrophe.

The technical problems are great but achievable. The greater challenge is cultural.

What memes, scenes, themes, and dreams will serve the new age? How to transition from selfish paranoid war-based states to planetary scale resource-based cyclical management?

The first requirement is that the center-of-gravity identity of people must change: people must think of themselves as “Earthians,” rather than Americans, Germans, Kenyans, or whatever. We are all one kin living in one home. This should be obvious by now. Every human being is your brother or sister, and we all live in one place: planet Earth. We breathe the same air, drink the same water, and derive our physical existence from this planet.

The 2 prongs of our task will provide important feedback to each other. Managing “Biosphere One” as a whole will teach how to create and sustain new biospheres and work towards terraforming planets. Creating and managing those biospheres will give insights about managing Earth.

And ultimately, why should we go to Space? Because it’s a challenge. It’s fun, and exciting, and dramatic. It makes a good story. And what is the purpose of the Universe, if not to make good stories?