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This is why, I, as an environmentalist hope humans will colonize Mars. I firmly believe that a Mars colony is the best bet we have at forcing humans to finally

This is why, I, as an environmentalist hope humans will colonize Mars. I firmly believe that a Mars colony is the best bet we have at forcing humans to finally see how precious our trees and our green and blue earth is.

samstave 9y ago
Has there been a single person ever who has determined how to grow anything on mars? We have freaking rovers there for decades. Not a single seed planted, not a single tiny green house or terrarium delivered to the surface. We have spent billions putting robots on mars and we have literally nothing to show for it. And by "something to show for it" that would mean an experiment to literally show that we can sustain life on mars. Have we even had a single person with the qualifications to state so, commented on this? Until then, mars is simply an expensive cemetery.
- timthelion 9y ago
  It is currently "illegal" to bring life to Mars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection
- slimsag 9y ago
  There is a good reading about greenhouses on Mars here by NASA[1], also this seems to (obviously) be an active area of research for them. There is talk of them trying to put a small greenhouse on Mars by 2021[2] [1] https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/livingthings/25feb_greenhouses.html https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/livingthings/25feb_greenho... [2] https://www.space.com/25767-nasa-mars-greenhouse-rover-plant-experiment.html https://www.space.com/25767-nasa-mars-greenhouse-rover-plant...
- tstactplsignore 9y ago
  >We have spent billions putting robots on mars and we have literally nothing to show for it. This kind of anti-intellectualism is really inexcusable. We've gained an enormous amount of knowledge from the rover expeditions to Mars over the years[1], and nobody should apologize that the previous expeditions didn't meet your specific science fiction fantasies. We can agree that we'd both love more funding for more missions to Mars, but your characterization of the earlier missions as useless is outrageous and uninformed. [1] https://marsmobile.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/science/results/ https://marsmobile.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/science/results/
  - timthelion 9y ago
    I agree. When we sent the first rover we knew nothing, really. There might even have been life there. We need more funding, but the caution of early space explorers was actually rather wise.
    - samstave 9y ago
      I may have stated my point poorly. I agree that the caution is wise... but I guess I'm too hopeful that progress would be faster. Look we went from not having the technology of flight to landing on the freaking moon within 60 years. Why would we have stopped that rate of progress?
  - pizza 9y ago
    GP's comment is what people are calling anti-intellectualism these days?
slimsag 9y ago
Personally, I don't think that will really help. People care most about what directly affects them, and unless we're hoping Mars will have such a large colony that majority of people on earth are going back and forth between the two planets, then it won't affect most people. As anecdotal evidence, there are plenty of places on earth where you can see the lack of trees and greenery which makes you clearly aware of how precious they are on all other places of earth -- but most people do not visit or live near those locations, and as such most people seem uninvolved.
- timthelion 9y ago
  I hope that if we have ~10k people go there and die horrible deaths from starvation or live Instagramified horrifyingly bleak lives, then perhaps people on earth will start to feel trapped on this earth and to start to respect it more. My wife and I go every year to a film festival called "One World" in Prague. Once, we went to a film called "The War Show"[1]. A shaky cellphone shot documentary about Syria's civil war, in which the real camera-woman dies. I always was glad I lived in stable democracies with human rights. But before I watched that film, I didn't have real respect for the fragility and preciousness of democratic institutions. But now I do. I cried for hours after watching that film. I want everyone to have an experience like that, with regards to our precious earth and nature, before it is too late. [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5719108/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5719108/
  - always_good 9y ago
    I don't think you're giving the human brain enough credit for its ability to take everything for granted. For example, every smoker knows what it's doing to their own body. Some even have endured catastrophe like loved ones dying to smoking-related disease. But they still smoke. Even when they develop a chronic cough and barely have the lung fortitude to inflate a balloon. I'm not sure how you can expect people to care about people dying 200 million kilometers away. Nor how something as abstract and distant as the survival of humanity is supposed to compel people into action when immediate threats right here on earth don't.
    - 9y ago

samstave 9y ago

Has there been a single person ever who has determined how to grow anything on mars? We have freaking rovers there for decades. Not a single seed planted, not a single tiny green house or terrarium delivered to the surface. We have spent billions putting robots on mars and we have literally nothing to show for it. And by "something to show for it" that would mean an experiment to literally show that we can sustain life on mars. Have we even had a single person with the qualifications to state so, commented on this? Until then, mars is simply an expensive cemetery.

timthelion 9y ago
It is currently "illegal" to bring life to Mars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection
slimsag 9y ago
There is a good reading about greenhouses on Mars here by NASA[1], also this seems to (obviously) be an active area of research for them. There is talk of them trying to put a small greenhouse on Mars by 2021[2] [1] https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/livingthings/25feb_greenhouses.html https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/livingthings/25feb_greenho... [2] https://www.space.com/25767-nasa-mars-greenhouse-rover-plant-experiment.html https://www.space.com/25767-nasa-mars-greenhouse-rover-plant...
tstactplsignore 9y ago
>We have spent billions putting robots on mars and we have literally nothing to show for it. This kind of anti-intellectualism is really inexcusable. We've gained an enormous amount of knowledge from the rover expeditions to Mars over the years[1], and nobody should apologize that the previous expeditions didn't meet your specific science fiction fantasies. We can agree that we'd both love more funding for more missions to Mars, but your characterization of the earlier missions as useless is outrageous and uninformed. [1] https://marsmobile.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/science/results/ https://marsmobile.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/science/results/
- timthelion 9y ago
  I agree. When we sent the first rover we knew nothing, really. There might even have been life there. We need more funding, but the caution of early space explorers was actually rather wise.
  - samstave 9y ago
    I may have stated my point poorly. I agree that the caution is wise... but I guess I'm too hopeful that progress would be faster. Look we went from not having the technology of flight to landing on the freaking moon within 60 years. Why would we have stopped that rate of progress?
- pizza 9y ago
  GP's comment is what people are calling anti-intellectualism these days?

slimsag 9y ago

Personally, I don't think that will really help. People care most about what directly affects them, and unless we're hoping Mars will have such a large colony that majority of people on earth are going back and forth between the two planets, then it won't affect most people. As anecdotal evidence, there are plenty of places on earth where you can see the lack of trees and greenery which makes you clearly aware of how precious they are on all other places of earth -- but most people do not visit or live near those locations, and as such most people seem uninvolved.

timthelion 9y ago
I hope that if we have ~10k people go there and die horrible deaths from starvation or live Instagramified horrifyingly bleak lives, then perhaps people on earth will start to feel trapped on this earth and to start to respect it more. My wife and I go every year to a film festival called "One World" in Prague. Once, we went to a film called "The War Show"[1]. A shaky cellphone shot documentary about Syria's civil war, in which the real camera-woman dies. I always was glad I lived in stable democracies with human rights. But before I watched that film, I didn't have real respect for the fragility and preciousness of democratic institutions. But now I do. I cried for hours after watching that film. I want everyone to have an experience like that, with regards to our precious earth and nature, before it is too late. [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5719108/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5719108/
- always_good 9y ago
  I don't think you're giving the human brain enough credit for its ability to take everything for granted. For example, every smoker knows what it's doing to their own body. Some even have endured catastrophe like loved ones dying to smoking-related disease. But they still smoke. Even when they develop a chronic cough and barely have the lung fortitude to inflate a balloon. I'm not sure how you can expect people to care about people dying 200 million kilometers away. Nor how something as abstract and distant as the survival of humanity is supposed to compel people into action when immediate threats right here on earth don't.
  - 9y ago