Human Adaptation and Space Colonization
Series: Springer Praxis Books
Subseries: Popular Science
Smith, Cameron M, Davies, Evan T.
1st Edition., 2011, XX, 280 p. 40 illus., 20 in color.
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Focuses on the anthropological reasons for space colonization, essentially the human need to spread out into new environments to protect against extinction
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Shows how space colonization is a natural continuation of humanity's 4-million-year history of migration and adaptation
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Uses the stories of the colonization of the Arctic and the Pacific islands as models of migration behavior
Emigrating Beyond Earth puts space colonization into the context of human evolution. Rather than focusing on the technologies and strategies needed to colonize space, the authors examine the human and societal reasons for space colonization. They make space colonization seems like a natural step by demonstrating that if will continue the human species' 4 million-year-old legacy of adaptation to difficult new environments. The authors present many examples from the history of human expansion into new environments, including two amazing tales of human colonization - the prehistoric settlement of the upper Arctic around 5,000 years ago and the colonization of the Pacific islands around 3,000 years ago - which show that space exploration is no more about rockets and robots that Arctic exploration was about boating!