Last Leg of the Space Race

(via Futurismic) I'd love to see this work its way through the SF bloggosphere. Dr. J. Richard Gott III's Copernican Principle gives a 95% likelihood that the human race will survive at least 5,100 more years but not longer than 7.8 million. These odds can be improved if we colonize other planets, but - get this - he gives a 50% chance that we're already at the midpoint of the space program, giving us only another 46 years to beat the odds. I'd love to see some smarter minds than mine discuss this, though his answer to the Fermi Paradox should be of interest to all writers and readers of speculative fiction.