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We don't need the permission and cooperation of every major world power and polluting industry to go to Mars. I'd go so far as to say it's vastly more attainabl

We don't need the permission and cooperation of every major world power and polluting industry to go to Mars. I'd go so far as to say it's vastly more attainable than fixing our atmosphere.

dsabanin 10y ago
I understand that. But if we as people can't even solve these simple problems of intercommunication in the system that we ourselves created, how are we going to be solving problems of terraforming which involve a lot more complex systems that we have absolutely no clue about? We can't stop desertification on this planet, yet plan to turn a planet-sized desert into a hospitable place. Crazy.
- dnissley 10y ago
  I get where you're coming from. Here's how I see it: No one's really invested in keeping Mars a wasteland, and there are a lot of very powerful people invested in activities that are destroying Earth.
- nitrogen 10y ago
  As the parent commenter implied, things get a lot easier when you only bring people who agree.
  - spdustin 10y ago
    Indeed. We could argue the tragedy of the commons as it pertains to climate change (it's a tough argument for both sides, honestly) but when colonizing Mars means bringing along colonists vetted by scientists and not politicians, keeping from wrecking the place would be a lot easier. I do recognize that it wouldn't solely be scientists to choose colonists, I'm not that naive, but I'm confident that there would be enough controls in place to ensure that the right thing is the default answer to what do we do now?
thaw13579 10y ago
Once there's any indication that terraforming Mars is possible, why wouldn't they do everything they can to cash in as well?
- spdustin 10y ago
  Terraforming Mars actually means creating a greenhouse effect there to increase atmospheric pressure enough that colonists could just wear oxygen masks and not full pressure suits. Oxygenation would come much later, and no doubt the lessons learned there could apply to the poor unfortunate souls still living on this rock.
  - thaw13579 10y ago
    Right, but my point is that the negative political and industrial facts of life on Earth will likely follow the settlers to Mars once there's a profit to be made.
    - cududa 10y ago
      This is a fun read on that topic http://multivax.com/last_question.html http://multivax.com/last_question.html
vkou 10y ago
We don't need the permission and cooperation of every major world power to destroy the Earth's environment. In fact, it seems to be our default mode of operation.
- spdustin 10y ago
  It's those aforementioned world powers and industries doing it. I'm sorry if my argument made assumptions about the context.

We don't need the permission and cooperation of every major world power and polluting industry to go to Mars. I'd go so far as to say it's vastly more attainable than fixing our atmosphere.

dsabanin 10y ago

I understand that. But if we as people can't even solve these simple problems of intercommunication in the system that we ourselves created, how are we going to be solving problems of terraforming which involve a lot more complex systems that we have absolutely no clue about? We can't stop desertification on this planet, yet plan to turn a planet-sized desert into a hospitable place. Crazy.

dnissley 10y ago
I get where you're coming from. Here's how I see it: No one's really invested in keeping Mars a wasteland, and there are a lot of very powerful people invested in activities that are destroying Earth.
nitrogen 10y ago
As the parent commenter implied, things get a lot easier when you only bring people who agree.
- spdustin 10y ago
  Indeed. We could argue the tragedy of the commons as it pertains to climate change (it's a tough argument for both sides, honestly) but when colonizing Mars means bringing along colonists vetted by scientists and not politicians, keeping from wrecking the place would be a lot easier. I do recognize that it wouldn't solely be scientists to choose colonists, I'm not that naive, but I'm confident that there would be enough controls in place to ensure that the right thing is the default answer to what do we do now?

thaw13579 10y ago

Once there's any indication that terraforming Mars is possible, why wouldn't they do everything they can to cash in as well?

spdustin 10y ago
Terraforming Mars actually means creating a greenhouse effect there to increase atmospheric pressure enough that colonists could just wear oxygen masks and not full pressure suits. Oxygenation would come much later, and no doubt the lessons learned there could apply to the poor unfortunate souls still living on this rock.
- thaw13579 10y ago
  Right, but my point is that the negative political and industrial facts of life on Earth will likely follow the settlers to Mars once there's a profit to be made.
  - cududa 10y ago
    This is a fun read on that topic http://multivax.com/last_question.html http://multivax.com/last_question.html

vkou 10y ago

We don't need the permission and cooperation of every major world power to destroy the Earth's environment. In fact, it seems to be our default mode of operation.

spdustin 10y ago
It's those aforementioned world powers and industries doing it. I'm sorry if my argument made assumptions about the context.