I think the difference in quantity here creates a whole new quality - both in terms of doing the adapting and in what it means to imagine a different world state than we see.

Ok. But I stand by my point that controlling our drives and using intelligence to override what it tells us to do,is what that really differentiates us from other animals.

Isn't the haste to abandon earth and colonize other worlds just like a panic response of an animal that finds it's resting place on fire? I mean, it is not going to see if the fire can be quenched, it is just going to take off..

You have an interesting point here. Personally I do sometimes wonder if sci-fi movies depicting space travel don't make people feel it's much closer a reality than it really is, thus making them care less for our planet because "if shit hits the fan, we'll surely find another one".

That said, the current crop of space entrepreneurs seem to care more about long-term survival of our species in case of cataclysmic events not necessarily of human making - e.g. asteroid impacts.