How many humans would it take to keep our species alive?

How many humans would it take to keep our species alive?

“How many crew members would be needed for an interstellar voyage that might last dozens of generations? In other words, what is the minimum number of people required to deliver and successfully plant a self-sustaining population of Homo sapiens on another Earth?”

2 thoughts on “How many humans would it take to keep our species alive?

  1. Interesting article. I’ve read many science fiction novels over the years that deal with this same dilemma. Often times the plot revolves around the launch of a last minute ark ship designed to keep the human race from going extinct.
    The basic flaw, in my humble opinion, is that unless you have relatives onboard that ship, why would you care? Let’s say you’re part of the group left on a dying planet. The sun is about to go nova or something. What do you care if a ship full of strangers makes it off planet or not? When you and everybody you know is about to die in a planet wide extinction event, do you feel any better knowing the human race is going to continue on Ceti-Alpha 5? I doubt it.

    1. Well I’d feel bad because I know what is going to happen to Ceti-Alpha 5 when Ceti-Alpha 6 blows up. Unless the colony ship is made up of genetically engineered colonists led by Khan Noonien Singh, the human race wouldn’t survive for very long.

      But seriously, while ideally I would have family on that ship, even if no one I knew was going to survive, I would still want the human race to live on. I think most people would agree with me on that.

Comments are closed.