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Mars is like Antarctica or Sahara, but much worse, why would people want to live their lives there? I can understand scientists or perhaps adventurers living th

Mars is like Antarctica or Sahara, but much worse, why would people want to live their lives there? I can understand scientists or perhaps adventurers living there for a 2 year shift. But why would anyone want to spend time there if it's a worse place to live than Earth in almost every regard? By the way, I'm a big SpaceX fan and I hope there will be an outpost on Mars, but a self-sustaining city is just unrealistic, sadly.

WheelsAtLarge 10y ago
I see your point. It's not necessarily a matter of living there. People would hate it and it's unrealistic with current technology. Right now, it's a matter of developing the technology to be able to travel and live outside our planet. We're really talking about technology that will take hundreds of years to develop - if at all. If it's ever going to happen we need to move forward. Going to the moon was great but we've stalled since then. We talk about jobs ending. We'll space research and development is a fertile ground for new jobs.
- RivieraKid 10y ago
  Yeah, I'm a big supporter of the Mars plan, it's just that I can't convince myself that a big colony is possible any time soon.
parenthephobia 10y ago
> But why would anyone want to spend time there if it's a worse place to live than Earth in almost every regard? People who don't agree with you about it being a worse place to live than Earth in almost every regard might want to live there. I don't think Mars is a "worse" place to live than Earth in general, though it's certainly more challenging to live there. On Earth, humans have lived everywhere it's possible to live, not just where it was easy. Antarctica was uninhabited until comparatively recently not because it isn't a nice place to live, but because without modern technology it's basically impossible to live there. The Sahara has been inhabited for thousands of years. The Andes and Tibet are places which are so hard for humans to live in that the populations there have genetic adaptations to help them survive the low-oxygen environment. I mention that not to suggest that Martians might evolve the ability to breathe Martian are, but that humans haven't allowed mere inhospitability to stop them living in a place: history tells us that if it's possible to live somewhere, people will live there.
- RivieraKid 10y ago
  I certainly hope there will be a lot of (rich) people who'd find life on Mars appealing, but I'm extremely sceptical there will be many people like that. Depends which parts of Sahara, some are certainly livable. Mars is a lifeless desert and you'd be mostly stuck inside anyway to avoid radiation. But maybe the goal of building a self-sustaining colony would give the people a clear purpose that would offset the discomfort.
xbmcuser 10y ago
With the way things are going with climate change etc our world will become a harsher place to live in. And all tech that helps us live and colonise Mars will also help us survive on Earth.
sp527 10y ago
I had the same reaction and then started looking into the viability of terraforming Mars. I'd hardly call any of it conclusive, but the challenges and proposed solutions are endlessly fascinating. Highly recommended nerd deep dive.

WheelsAtLarge 10y ago

I see your point. It's not necessarily a matter of living there. People would hate it and it's unrealistic with current technology. Right now, it's a matter of developing the technology to be able to travel and live outside our planet. We're really talking about technology that will take hundreds of years to develop - if at all. If it's ever going to happen we need to move forward. Going to the moon was great but we've stalled since then. We talk about jobs ending. We'll space research and development is a fertile ground for new jobs.

RivieraKid 10y ago
Yeah, I'm a big supporter of the Mars plan, it's just that I can't convince myself that a big colony is possible any time soon.

parenthephobia 10y ago

> But why would anyone want to spend time there if it's a worse place to live than Earth in almost every regard? People who don't agree with you about it being a worse place to live than Earth in almost every regard might want to live there. I don't think Mars is a "worse" place to live than Earth in general, though it's certainly more challenging to live there. On Earth, humans have lived everywhere it's possible to live, not just where it was easy. Antarctica was uninhabited until comparatively recently not because it isn't a nice place to live, but because without modern technology it's basically impossible to live there. The Sahara has been inhabited for thousands of years. The Andes and Tibet are places which are so hard for humans to live in that the populations there have genetic adaptations to help them survive the low-oxygen environment. I mention that not to suggest that Martians might evolve the ability to breathe Martian are, but that humans haven't allowed mere inhospitability to stop them living in a place: history tells us that if it's possible to live somewhere, people will live there.

RivieraKid 10y ago
I certainly hope there will be a lot of (rich) people who'd find life on Mars appealing, but I'm extremely sceptical there will be many people like that. Depends which parts of Sahara, some are certainly livable. Mars is a lifeless desert and you'd be mostly stuck inside anyway to avoid radiation. But maybe the goal of building a self-sustaining colony would give the people a clear purpose that would offset the discomfort.

xbmcuser 10y ago

With the way things are going with climate change etc our world will become a harsher place to live in. And all tech that helps us live and colonise Mars will also help us survive on Earth.

sp527 10y ago

I had the same reaction and then started looking into the viability of terraforming Mars. I'd hardly call any of it conclusive, but the challenges and proposed solutions are endlessly fascinating. Highly recommended nerd deep dive.