US astronomers said Wednesday they have discovered an Earth-sized planet that they think might be habitable, orbiting a nearby star, and believe there could be many more planets like it in space.Nearby in what sense? There are no stars, besides the sun, nearby. Maybe closer than other stars but in human terms they may as well be on the other side of the universe. The closest star is Proxima Centauri and it is 4.22 light-years away from Earth, that's something close to 5.88 trillion miles per year or 24.8 trillion miles away. The planet they are talking about is 20 light-years away. No one is going there any time soon. And by its description, it's not much of a planet anyway. They are just making a fuss about nothing.
I don't mean to sound down on things like this but I see it as people looking for eternity in the wrong place. It's interesting to see what is out there, no doubt, but there is no saving of the human race to come out of it. This is where we live and this is where we must work it all out. There is no escaping.
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