I regularly see people write arguments like “One day, we’ll colonize the galaxy—this shows why working on the far future is so exciting!”
I know the intuition this is trying to trigger is bigger = more impact = exciting opportunity.
The intuition it actually triggers for me is expansion and colonization = trying to build an empire = I should be suspicious of these people and their plans.
Do you consider this intuition to be a reason that people should be wary of making this type of argument? Or maybe specifically avoid the word “colonize”?
Maybe something like “populate the galaxy” would be better, as it emphasizes that there are no native populations whose members would be harmed by space colonization?
I regularly see people write arguments like “One day, we’ll colonize the galaxy—this shows why working on the far future is so exciting!”
I know the intuition this is trying to trigger is bigger = more impact = exciting opportunity.
The intuition it actually triggers for me is expansion and colonization = trying to build an empire = I should be suspicious of these people and their plans.
Do you consider this intuition to be a reason that people should be wary of making this type of argument? Or maybe specifically avoid the word “colonize”?
Maybe something like “populate the galaxy” would be better, as it emphasizes that there are no native populations whose members would be harmed by space colonization?
Or “fill the universe/galaxy with life”.