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>I never understood why colonizing Mars is needed. Correct, but short-sighted. However much Earth has, we'll quickly gobble it all up. To quote Bartlett : "T

>I never understood why colonizing Mars is needed. Correct, but short-sighted. However much Earth has, we'll quickly gobble it all up. To quote Bartlett : "The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Allen_Bartlett https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Allen_Bartlett) The only way out is up, and the first stepping stone is the Moon, next is Mars.

adrianN 8y ago
Neverending exponential growth is not possible through space colonization. We can grow at most as the surface area of a sphere that expands at the speed of light, realistically much slower.
- pferde 8y ago
  In sufficiently long term, it is not entirely correct, because colonized planets will eventually start sending out colonizers themselves.
  - adrianN 8y ago
    That doesn't work. They'll only reach places already colonized.
dagw 8y ago
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." In which case the second greatest must be to assume that all growth is exponential.