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Charles strauss wrote about other cool applications of the Mars rocket booster here: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2016/09/what-else-can-you-do-w

Charles strauss wrote about other cool applications of the Mars rocket booster here: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2016/09/what-else-can-you-do-with-a-bi.html http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2016/09/what-els... And If your reaction to that is "cool, but let's just build it for those reasons", you're missing the point. Mars is basically a platform for tech development and civilization building. In order to survive and thrive out there they are going to have to develop tech that will undoubtedly benefit us at home. Not just in spacecraft but in materials science, biology, computers, you name it. We wouldnt have GPS, communications, or satellite imagery without the space programs by the time it becomes obvious what benefit it has for us, it will already have been done. Think of what terraforming will teach us about climate change and how to mitigate it's effects on Earth. This is on top of the reason in which you have a small number of highly educated, highly skilled people allowed to make a new society on a different planet. How much faster do you think they will be able to operate without the ineffiencies of the world today? If a facist religious dictatorship ends up forbidding all technology and destroys the planet and us with it, I'd be glad that we at least have something else continuing the species. In a sense it would actually prevent that scenario from happening because of geopolitics. If your adversary is on a different planet, you better keep up with their tech or they will end up owning you.

adekok 9y ago
So... I said cheap rockets are a good idea, and your best counter-argument is to say "No, cheap rockets are a good idea" ? > you have a small number of highly educated, highly skilled people allowed to make a new society on a different planet. How much faster do you think they will be able to operate without the ineffiencies of the world today? How much slower will they work when they don't have quick access to a modern industrial civilization? > If a facist religious dictatorship ends up forbidding all technology and destroys the planet and us with it, I'd be glad that we at least have something else continuing the species. I don't really have a rational counter-argument, because that isn't much of a rational position.
- headcanon 9y ago
  My understanding of your position was that we don't need the whole Mars thing in order to accomplish more domestic goals (cheap rockets), and my position is that a Mars program will force us to develop much more advanced tech that will benefit us here than we would have otherwise. > How much slower will they work when they don't have quick access to a modern industrial civilization? Give it a couple centuries :) Civilization building is not a short term plan. And the fact that they won't have (easy) access to the rest of the species is part of what will force them to create innovative, home-grown solutions.

adekok 9y ago

So... I said cheap rockets are a good idea, and your best counter-argument is to say "No, cheap rockets are a good idea" ? > you have a small number of highly educated, highly skilled people allowed to make a new society on a different planet. How much faster do you think they will be able to operate without the ineffiencies of the world today? How much slower will they work when they don't have quick access to a modern industrial civilization? > If a facist religious dictatorship ends up forbidding all technology and destroys the planet and us with it, I'd be glad that we at least have something else continuing the species. I don't really have a rational counter-argument, because that isn't much of a rational position.

headcanon 9y ago
My understanding of your position was that we don't need the whole Mars thing in order to accomplish more domestic goals (cheap rockets), and my position is that a Mars program will force us to develop much more advanced tech that will benefit us here than we would have otherwise. > How much slower will they work when they don't have quick access to a modern industrial civilization? Give it a couple centuries :) Civilization building is not a short term plan. And the fact that they won't have (easy) access to the rest of the species is part of what will force them to create innovative, home-grown solutions.