Should we go to Mars?

[superstring01]

We'll never have security as a species until we live on another planet. NOT going because we are too aggressive allows for out destruction at the hands of mother nature (asteroid, mega volcano). Whatever problems we have will follow us there, and will be with us for milena to come. Better that we secure our existence, so that we can solve all these pesky problems in the future.

Existence, even a horrible, destructive existence is preferable to total extermination.

~String

 

[MetaKron]

Having the taxpayers pay for us to all get free massages causes no economic damage. The money is recycled into the economy and the economy actually gains. And it would feel good. Do you want the intellectual feel good of reading about the exploration of Mars or the physical feel good of a massage?

Sure there might be some side benefits from creating the technology needed to get us to Mars. There would be more benefits if we spent the science dollars on things more useful than going to Mars.

As long as you remain unaware of just how much the civilian sector benefited from the space program...

 

[nirakar]

The trip to the moon was exiting and helped America feel good about itself. It helped people around the to dream about the potential of men. It helped get people interested in science.

I don't think a trip to Mars will be as inspiring as the trip to the moon was. We know now that going to the moon didn't change humans. We are still idiots. We can got to Mars but we still will be idiots.

As far as the technological spin-offs, any cutting edge science will create spin-offs so why not work directly towards something useful.

 

[hypewaders]

nirakar: "why not work directly towards something useful"

Hear, hear. A sustainable human presence on the 3rd planet might fit the bill.

 

[superstring01]

nirakar: "why not work directly towards something useful"

Hear, hear. A sustainable human presence on the 3rd planet might fit the bill.

Sustainable? Stagnation? Our species was meant to grow and fill whatever void can handle it. Train a species to stagnate in numbers, and you sign its death warrant.

Everything is temporary. Everything. Even this planet will go one day. It could be anytime between now and the next five billion years. I say, get to as many places as possible. Life is the only thing that can go on when inanimate matter ends. We could spend the next five hundred years "fixing" Earth only to have the universe snuff it out from under us. Willingly allowing one's self to become extinct is a sure sign of insanity.

Quipping about how horrible we are to the Earth and how terrible we are to each other won't amount to a hill of beans if the surface of this planet is covered in a cosmic delivery of iridium and the only thing left to remember us by is a few buildings.

We have infinity to fix ourselves. Our time on Earth, however, is perilously temporary.

Tick tock.

~String

 

[Roman]

Sustainable? Stagnation? Our species was meant to grow and fill whatever void can handle it. Train a species to stagnate in numbers, and you sign its death warrant.

Everything is temporary. Everything. Even this planet will go one day. It could be anytime between now and the next five billion years. I say, get to as many places as possible. Life is the only thing that can go on when inanimate matter ends. We could spend the next five hundred years "fixing" Earth only to have the universe snuff it out from under us. Willingly allowing one's self to become extinct is a sure sign of insanity.

Quipping about how horrible we are to the Earth and how terrible we are to each other won't amount to a hill of beans if the surface of this planet is covered in a cosmic delivery of iridium and the only thing left to remember us by is a few buildings.

We have infinity to fix ourselves. Our time on Earth, however, is perilously temporary.

Tick tock.

~String

Yeah, tick tock, we'll kill ourselves if we don't fix ourselves. The chance of an extinction event is vanishingly slim compared to the certainty that we're fucked in a couple centuries if we don't figure out how to live together and within our means.

 

[superstring01]

Yeah, tick tock, we'll kill ourselves if we don't fix ourselves. The chance of an extinction event is vanishingly slim compared to the certainty that we're fucked in a couple centuries if we don't figure out how to live together and within our means.

Really? We've been killing each other for the past few hundred milenia. The only issues we have now is that we are so adept at it. All it will take in the next fifty years-or-so to wipe us out is a simple mistake in nano technology or some hateful bastard whipping up a ecophage in his car garage. We're approaching the point where a few small individuals can decide the entire fate of humanity by the simple dealings in illegal matters. As the technology for this proliferates, it's pretty much guaranteed that someone will do exactly that.

There are already idiots on this planet who believe that humanity has lost "the right" to exist and should willingly self exterminate. What's to stop some idiot from doing that if and when the technology becomes pervasive enough to carry it out? Existing elsewhere is the only sure thing to survival.

Our self destructive nature will be with us, and should be. From our most horrible conflicts have come our greatest advancements. Peace is stagnation. Weather or not the Earth survives is a moot point, it already has an expiration date stamped on it. Silly that we should follow it.

~String

 

[Roman]

Really? We've been killing each other for the past few hundred milenia. The only issues we have now is that we are so adept at it. All it will take in the next fifty years-or-so to wipe us out is a simple mistake in nano technology or some hateful bastard whipping up a ecophage in his car garage. We're approaching the point where a few small individuals can decide the entire fate of humanity by the simple dealings in illegal matters. As the technology for this proliferates, it's pretty much guaranteed that someone will do exactly that.

There are already idiots on this planet who believe that humanity has lost "the right" to exist and should willingly self exterminate. What's to stop some idiot from doing that if and when the technology becomes pervasive enough to carry it out? Existing elsewhere is the only sure thing to survival.

Our self destructive nature will be with us, and should be. From our most horrible conflicts have come our greatest advancements. Peace is stagnation. Weather or not the Earth survives is a moot point, it already has an expiration date stamped on it. Silly that we should follow it.

~String

That was precisely my argument. Technology is nowhere near creating a sustainable habitat on Mars. We're a long way from even sending people. Sure, we could focus a ton of resources into going there, but then what? It's now the end, because we chose to ignore the problems and we're left with nothing.

If we instead figured out how to improve our environment, and get along with each other (or mastermind centralized planning that forces people to get along or something futuristic and insidious), we'd already be half way there to making Mars habitable AND have saved ourselves in the meantime.

 

[nirakar]

Building a few secret isolated 200 person survival pods on the bottom of the ocean makes more sense than looking to Mars as way to escape human caused or meteor caused or space alien caused destruction of the human species.

 

[superstring01]

That was precisely my argument. Technology is nowhere near creating a sustainable habitat on Mars. We're a long way from even sending people. Sure, we could focus a ton of resources into going there, but then what? It's now the end, because we chose to ignore the problems and we're left with nothing.

If we instead figured out how to improve our environment, and get along with each other (or mastermind centralized planning that forces people to get along or something futuristic and insidious), we'd already be half way there to making Mars habitable AND have saved ourselves in the meantime.

Hmmm. Agreed.

Building a few secret isolated 200 person survival pods on the bottom of the ocean makes more sense than looking to Mars as way to escape human caused or meteor caused or space alien caused destruction of the human species.

"Survival pods?" Huh? They would't be worth the sweat off my scrotum if a meteor struck, or if Yellowstone erupted.

~String

 

[nirakar]

You overvalue your scrotum sweat. Making a self-sustainable environment on Mars would be massively expensive. Making several undersea structures that can survive a meteor strike or Yellowstone eruption and keep their continuous population of a few hundred people alive until the earth is ready for resettling, would be much cheaper than creating a colony on Mars that could resettle the Earth.

 

[Myles]

the mess will never go away, the uncontrollable variable of human population increase deems space expansion or war as the only solutions to the issue.

So you want us to mess up another planet? If we cannot getit right here why should it be any different on mars ?We just don't learn.

 

[draqon]

So you want us to mess up another planet? If we cannot getit right here why should it be any different on mars ?We just don't learn.

well you go ahead and stay on this planet and "learn". Meanwhile I will go ahead and find likeminded people who support space exploration and go.

 

[Myles]

well you go ahead and stay on this planet and "learn". Meanwhile I will go ahead and find likeminded people who support space exploration and go.

You misunderstand what I am saying. We don't learn here, so why should we be different elsewhere ?

 

[Syzygys]

Draqon, at this point in time for humankind, planning for a Mars exploration is like a family saving for a Ferrari when their roof is leaking...

There is absolutely no point in doing it. maybe in a 100 years if we sold much more important issues, like energy. Speaking of energy, what do we need to get to Mars? Oh yes, energy....

And even then, the Moon would be a much more practical and logical first step. If we can't make it on the Moon, we definiatelly can't make it on Mars...

 

[nirakar]

We'll never have security as a species until we live on another planet. NOT going because we are too aggressive allows for out destruction at the hands of mother nature (asteroid, mega volcano). Whatever problems we have will follow us there, and will be with us for milena to come. Better that we secure our existence, so that we can solve all these pesky problems in the future.

Existence, even a horrible, destructive existence is preferable to total extermination.

~String

Why do some of us have such a clear urge for man to get to Mars quickly? Is it about survival of the human species or is it something else?

Did you guys have books when you were children saying, "look how wonderful human technology is we will be going to Mars soon"?

Is hoping we settle Mars in our lifetime the geek equivalent of Christians hoping that Jesus returns and God sends all the bad humans to eternal damnation and raptures the Christians up to heaven in our lifetime?


What is the chance of a nonmanmade event destroying human life on earth in the next thousand years?

 

[orcot]

What is the chance of a nonmanmade event destroying human life on earth in the next thousand years?

Abouth 1 in a million (that's rather pessimistics) people have been walking around for the last 200 000 years and we can most defenitly survive a whole lot more natural disasters now.

 

[kazakhan]

Why do some of us have such a clear urge for man to get to Mars quickly? Is it about survival of the human species or is it something else?

Viable colonies off earth are not only an insurance policy for human survival but also a means to progress technologically and socially. I believe a thriving space industry with off world colonies would lead to better relations between nations. It really doesn't matter that some don't believe it's a goal worth pursuing as commercial organisations will make it happen sooner or later

 

[phlogistician]

I believe a thriving space industry with off world colonies would lead to better relations between nations.

Then you are rather naive, if you recall when the first space tourist Dennis Tito venturing to the ISS, NASA got all pissy and wanted him restricted to 'Russian' areas of the ISS. We can't even co-operate on the International Space Station, so it doesn't bode well for any other off world colony.

 

[nietzschefan]

That was precisely my argument. Technology is nowhere near creating a sustainable habitat on Mars. We're a long way from even sending people. Sure, we could focus a ton of resources into going there, but then what? It's now the end, because we chose to ignore the problems and we're left with nothing.

If we instead figured out how to improve our environment, and get along with each other (or mastermind centralized planning that forces people to get along or something futuristic and insidious), we'd already be half way there to making Mars habitable AND have saved ourselves in the meantime.

Fact is, if even only NASA(nevermind all the other current space agencies working toward a mars goal), had it's 1969 dollar budget dollars(adjusted for inflation of course), to the present day, we WOULD be on mars doing almost anything we want.

Fact is, with many current space agencies working toward the goal it will happen, regardless of the intentions of the lowest common denominators of our society that continue to beg beyond their dead weight. That is provided some circle jerker on this planet, trying to fix the problems that humanity has had for 1000s of years doesn't drag it all down because someone is hungry, because some warlord took their U.N welfare check. This is regardless of what the U.S wants to do with it's eggheads,make Exploration vehicles or mega weapons - these guys can do little else, what I call the von Braun syndrome. They are not the guys who can feed the 3rd world or come up with world peace. Get these guys working on the constructive rather than the destructive.