Why should the human race exist?

Here's a letter I submitted to the Inquirer last week. They never got back to me on it. Probably questioning the existence of the human race is a little too heavy for their reader. [plural deleted on purpose]

Regarding:"Finding survival in space travel," Opinion, August 8 2007]

To the Editor,

Tad Daley cites Cambridge University's Martin Rees' dire prediction that the odds are no better than "50/50" that our civilization will continue beyond this century, due to any number of potentially apocolyptic threats to our planet (either natural or man-made). Daley posits that in order ensure humanity's immortality we must establish "the human race beyond the cradle of its birth . . . to live forever among the stars."

In my opinion, before we begin exporting our irrational superstitions, greed and muderous stupidity throughout the universe, we ought to first ask ourseleves whether we're even worthy of survival. What makes us so special? Just look at the cruelty we've inflicted upon each other over the centuries and have now continued into the new millenium. If we are to evolve into the species of enlightened space farers Tad Daley envisions, perhaps we should start by choosing leaders who actually believe in evolution.