4 ms·
> Without a connection to existing civilization, and without a source of easily accessible water provided by nature? No, we have never done that. Civilization
by imgabe 8y ago
> Without a connection to existing civilization, and without a source of easily accessible water provided by nature? No, we have never done that.
Civilization had to start somewhere. At some point humans started a civilization without any connection to an existing civilization. In all likelihood, several times in different places on Earth. And on Mars that would not be "without a connection to an existing civilization" They would absolutely be bringing equipment and supplies from Earth and have a communication link.
Easily accessible water is a different story, but that's just a technological problem.
- Retra 8y agoCivilization has only ever started in highly fertile ecosystems. It has never started in a place that basic plant life can't even survive.
- imgabe 8y agoWell I guess we're lucky there have been quite a few advances in helping plant and other forms of life survive in the past 200,000 years so. It's not like we're dropping a bunch of naked humans on the surface of Mars and expecting them to live off the land.
- Retra 8y agoMars is a gigantic frigid rock. You can't eat it, you can't breathe it, and you can't touch it. If you go to mars, you're going to be living in a bubble and it hardly even matters whether you're on Mars at that point (aside from being close enough to study it.) You could just as well colonize the bottom of the ocean or Antarctica, and there's plenty of value in doing those things because the rewards from the efforts could easily be transported back to normal society. And if you get sick or injured, you can still survive rather than casting your valuable experience into the void. If the advances you speak of can't help you survive in Earth's mildly hostile uninhabited environments, then you can't expect them to work on Mars.
- imgabe 8y agoWe are colonizing Antarctica. There are permanent settlements there. The bottom of the ocean has a different set of challenges than Mars due to the pressure, but sure we could do that too. We have 7.5 billion people here, you know, we don't all have to work on the same thing.
- Retra 8y agoWe all have to work on critical thinking.