You may remember the ideals espoused by Professor Weston in “Out of the Silent Planet“, especially the one that for humanity to survive as a species we must find and colonize new planets.  You may have thought that this was a bit of a stretch for Lewis to have a scientist believe in that view , and that no real scientists hold that philosophy now.  In that case you’ ll be interested the short article below.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/04/27/3490608.htm

And I quote from the article……

Finding planets outside our solar system that can sustain life should be made a top priority, say Australian astronomers.

Understanding habitability and using that knowledge to locate the nearest habitable planet may be crucial for our survival as a species, writes Dr Charley Lineweaver and PhD student Aditya Chopra of the Australian National University in the Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

I wonder if these good folk have read Out of the Silent Planet, and what they would say in response to Jack’s description of their philosophy.