Extension of Life or Extension of Business-as-usual?

While I am pro-technology, in the sense that I keep an optimism towards its potential contribution to the planet's well-being, I have recently come across a perspective that I could not avoid to contradict.


I have to note that I fully respect the scientific developments and believe that they should be used in order to enrich the quality of human life—which will eventually cause its extension on average. The fact that, in the last 5 or 6 decades, space technology has adopted the mission of leading all those scientific developments, makes that particular field a very important one.

Besides all this, I am a true believer in the inspirationality of that significant moment in the history of humankind when a member of our species set foot on the moon, and named, for the first time,—not his city, country or continent but instead;—the whole Earth as 'home'. I was first introduced to this fact while reading The Revenge of Gaia, by James Lovelock, who acknowledges that this dramatic change in the perception of 'home' has contributed dearly to the green cause on a subconscious level.

However, while I was carrying out a little research about these two topics of enormous importance, I came across the video below, which is a live recording of Peter Diamandis' speech. His perception of space missions, extension of life, affluence of the mankind, and especially, "the things we hold value on this planet" were not a match with those of mine. Please watch the video and see for yourself.