The wet dream of space population always rubs me the wrong way. Basically all of these purely human issues will exist anywhere we go until we solve them. Earth is the only planet we know of that is perfectly made for us. No other place can fit us as well. And yet we can't even utilize it properly.

Given that, it's almost childish to think that our #1 priority is to populate other random nearby planets.

If we colonize other planets, there's a far chance they'll be politically connected with the Earth empires and so the nuclear exchange woul happen there as well. Essentially, instead of WW3, we'd have Solar System War I.

How do you figure we are close to bringing a meaningful amount of life to other planets? Just because we have the ability to put a few people on Mars like we did the Moon if we focus on it doesn't mean those three to six people will be able to create a civilization. They'll get back on there ship and head home. I realize becoming a true space fairing civilization may follow an exponential curve but were so far down on the curve with no guarantee of exponential progress that I wouldn't bet any amount of money that mattered on someone four generations from me being able to life in space or on another planet with no support from earth.

The core issue is still there: Power can destroy other planets again. Human being is self-destructive.