Are we almost there, daddy?

Where am I going with all this?  It occurred to me that some may be asking that very question, and with justification.  Is this Generalissimo jerk just going to spew doom and gloom at us in a steady stream?

I should have made a post earlier setting forth, in general terms, where this journey is headed, and what rest stops will be taken along the way.  It just wouldn't be right to herd you all onto the bus, set off down the road; and deprive you of any toilet stops or opportunities to grab something to eat.  (I can hear it now, "Who does the Generalissimo think he is, my father?  We aren't on a family road trip.  Hungry?  Have a peanut butter sandwich.  Gotta pee?  Use this soda bottle."  Well, I am a dad, but I don't play that way.)

Where the hell is this bus headed?

The early stops on our trip will be doom and gloom.  I intend to explore various threats to humans and their home planet.  Those threats will include unsavory guests with origins both on and off planet.  Some of those threatening agents include those that could sterilize this lovely blue marble we call Mother Earth.  Others might wipe out all the higher life forms, including human beans.  While still others could pound us back to the Stone Age.  I do not want any of those fates to be visited on my children, or grandchildren.  I know, it sounds like a familiar tune: death, destruction, doom, and gloom.  Yeah, well hold on.  Those are just the early stops on this road trip.

The second phase of our journey is certain to bring out the worst in the neo-Luddites.  I am sure you have encountered some of those people; they are the ones that have some cockeyed reason why we should turn back the clock and abandon the technological advances achieved by modern humans.  (“If god had wanted us to go into space, he would have given us rocket motors up our kazoos.”  Or how about: “We have no business colonizing the moon until we take care of our problem here on Earth.”  I could go on, but I lack the stamina and the bandwidth.)  I will present possible solutions, or remedies, or work-arounds to these catastrophic events.  For many of these problems, there is no remedy, as such.  We can only take steps to limit the damage, but that is far better than doing nothing.  To badly misquote Elon Musk, “We backup data, shouldn’t we backup the biosphere?”  We must have that offsite backup, but that is just a start.

So, while there will be elements of calamitous death and destruction, this will not be a 

This Is a Doom and Gloom Prediction of the End of the World. 

 It will be more of a 

This Is the Front Desk Calling With Your Wakeup Call.  

Next time: Let’s look for some of the big holes.