Quote Originally Posted by space toker
exactly. anyone who thinks there are not likely to be other Earths out there are just not thinking period. They could be rare, they could be quite common, but they are almost certain to exist, and the evidence as BlueRazer mentioned suggests they are more on the common side of things. We should soon discover many Earth-like worlds. Yes I am optimistic but that does by no means mean unrealistic. Would you rather live your life believing that anything is possible or that nothing is possible? The latter would be a morbid depressing way to live, so I choose the former. Progress never happens under the leadership of pessimists, if it was up to them, we would all still be living in caves. Unfortunately, our leaders are not optimists either but somewhere in between, or we would already be living elsewhere in the solar system or even around other stars.
I am an optimist too but a bit of a cynic as well, which is kind of strange I guess. :wtf:

I'm cynical about ever seeing anything more than "baby steps" in my lifetime or even that of my grandchildren. Our progress towards space has been limited by the will of the human race at large really. How many common folks going about their daily lives really wants to pay taxes so scientists and jet jockeys can snag some rocks from the moon or Mars? I think if you conducted a national vote on it, you'd find that space exploration wouldn't get the approval rating necessary to constitute a mandate. It will take a combined effort and the public will to make a human expansion into space and it will be a long time coming I'm afraid.

Humans have created the technology to successfully launch, pilot, and use robot spacecraft to explore our Solar System and beyond. The level of technology it will take to reach any habitable planets with humans aboard is far above what we now possess. There are advancements being made all the time, but unless a way to actually navigate a worm hole is achieved, mankind will always be limited by the incredible amount of time required to reach other solar systems even at the speed of light.

I guess you could say that I'm an optimist in that I believe that mankind will eventually evolve and those qualities that are noble in us will win out in the long run. Then humans will be ready to colonize space.