outer space

My brother and I had a conversation last summer. If aliens came down to Earth as said to you "Want to come and see the universe with us?" would you go? What if you'd never be able to talk to your friends and family again? What if, not only could you never talk to anyone again, but also that you couldn't tell anyone you were leaving? You'd just have to leave right then and there? The conclusion we both came to was that you should go. Even if it caused harm to everyone you knew you should still go - the benefits are too great and if they did know they'd probably understand. I have to say I'd go. There's nothing on this rock that particularly binds me to it. We did however, insure ourselves. We asked our mom, "would it be OK if we went off to outer space with aliens if we couldn't tell you that's what we were doing? If we just disappeared one day?" Of course she said, and affirmatively so, no. That it would be far too painful. But that's why we asked. So we told her, "well this is us letting you know, if we disappear one day, it's because we went away with spacefaring aliens. Now you know!".

It is true, I have to say, sometimes I rue not being born generations in the future. It saddens me that I probably won't get to go to other solar systems. But maybe I will. I secretly hold the hope that if I live long enough that science will sufficiently have advanced to slow ageing, or freeze me until we can finally travel far out there.