Modern humans have been around for ~200 000 years. In this time, humanity has faced numerous challenges to its survival such as disease, natural disasters, food shortage, tribal wars, etc. Nonetheless, humanity stayed strong as a species and kept progressing forward, incrementally at first and then exponentially. One exponential shift came from the Industrial Age, which allowed machines and powered tools to be used as opposed to hand-held tools. In turn, it allowed manufacturing as a whole to take over and dominate for centuries. Then came the massive cities, suburbs, and other societal innovations that changed the way humanity operated.
During all these shifts, something drastic happened. Our survival instinct became dormant. Think about how much our ancestors had to go through to survive for a single day. They had to wake up, assuming they had not been eaten by another predator or killed by a hostile tribe in the night. They had to find water and food, which proved difficult because they had to go searching for it and clean it accordingly. Then, the most important aspect was staying alive throughout the day. Accidentally invading a hostile territory, eating poisonous berries, and/or getting a poisonous cut and not noticing until it is infected were all possible outcomes of our ancestors life. Now, in the wonderful age of modernity, there are grocery stores with all the food we will ever need. Clean water in plastic bottles for mere cents. A home to protect against predators or natural disasters. And, hopefully, borders that protect against hostile nations. Humanity transcended survivability; now, we are comfortable and growing (in population size and physical size). The true stress of our lives is not to do with food, shelter, or protection, it is to do with money, weight, complexion, job, status, and tolerance.
Moving aside from the obvious, the point is simple: we as a species have become too comfortable on this planet and have lost the drive to explore.
Obviously, this is easier said than done. Scientists, astronomers, and CEO’s are spending billions to facilitate reusable rockets and greenhouses that can be sent to distant moons and planets which will help setup colonies and progress the expansion of the human race. But, I am wondering why it took so long for this to be a reality. If our metaphoric “race to Mars” had started 50 years ago, where would we be as a civilization? Hopefully, on Mars.