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Any claim that there will be no screening of colonists is highly dubious at best. All you need to make some form of screening mandatory is to have more applican
by judahmeek 10y ago
Any claim that there will be no screening of colonists is highly dubious at best. All you need to make some form of screening mandatory is to have more applicants than open positions.
Even if all you do is accept applicants as they apply, that immediately biases the selection process to better informed and connected individuals.
- pmoriarty 10y agoIt's one thing to have a fist-come-first-served system, where the more informed, connected, wealthy, or eager individuals get to go first. It's quite another to psychological screening, background checks, and perhaps even rigorous training to make sure they can withstand the great psychological pressure that will be present on the trip and on Mars. There are no plans to use these latter measures, as far as I know. Even if there was such screening or training, that alone won't be enough if despite it someone onboard the spacecraft or in the colony decides to act out anyway. I really hope someone at SpaceX is seriuously thinking about these issues and coming up with practical solutions, as that's the only hope of preventing some unhinged or politically motivated individuals from turning a promising colonization effort in to a tragedy.