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Musk has said Mars is the backup plan for earth. What if one day there is a disease or meteor that wipes out the entire human population on Earth? (e.g., see th

Musk has said Mars is the backup plan for earth. What if one day there is a disease or meteor that wipes out the entire human population on Earth? (e.g., see the dinosaurs) Even if the only appeal was the wild wild west and uncharted territory, what's wrong with that? Look at what exploring the Moon has brought us, many unexpected innovations and inventions useful for life on earth.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
bunderbunder 7y ago
The meteor strike wiped out the dinosaurs, but not all life. Mars currently has no life. The strong implication is that, Earth post meteor strike would still be far, far, far more habitable for humans than Mars ever will be. As far as why describing Mars as Earth's backup plan rubs people the wrong way, I think it's a bit like Noah's Ark. While there is absolutely the cute story about the boat full of animals, and it does make for a good story, there's also the "meanwhile literally everyone aside from a minuscule elect ends up dying" bit. Which would be nothing but sour grapes if you didn't see people holding up the possibility of colonizing other planets as a mitigating factor that implies that we really shouldn't be quite so worried about all the environmental damage that's happening here on Earth. But you do. Put it all together, and the complete narrative starts to sound like, "Sure, we're recklessly hurtling toward turning the planet into an inhospitable shithole for billions of people, but don't worry about that, because 0.00000005% of them are going to get to live on a completely different inhospitable shithole instead!" Which, disclaimer, I'm not wanting to pan human space exploration. But I much prefer the "exploration for the sake of adventure and discovery" narrative. If that's not good enough, the ground to retreat to should be robots, not messianic fables for rich people.
- aeternus 7y ago
  What is the actual goal of environmentalism on earth? If it is to preserve diverse species, then it absolutely makes sense to colonize other planets and spread the wide variety of plants, animals, and other organisms. The earth will eventually be burned up by the sun.
  - bunderbunder 7y ago
    Let's keep a sense of perspective here. What the sun's going to be doing a billion or so years from now seems like a rather remote concern compared to entire countries being underwater in a few decades. If interstellar space travel is ever practically attainable - and, FWIW, that is still a controversial subject - then humans absolutely will figure it out. Or rather, they will just so long as they manage to extend both their existential and economic trajectories far enough for it to matter. Ain't nobody gonna be able to develop that kind of technology from Mars; they'll be way too busy on more prosaic tasks, like repeatedly checking their domes for leaks.
    - spurgu 7y ago
      > Let's keep a sense of perspective here. So like a few million years?
- wongarsu 7y ago
  > The meteor strike wiped out the dinosaurs, but not all life. Mars currently has no life. The strong implication is that, Earth post meteor strike would still be far, far, far more habitable for humans than Mars ever will be. Sure, but nobody today is researching the technology to survive a post-dinosaur-meteor earth. If it gets developed at all that's due to our space programs and our desire to survive on the Moon and Mars. So unless we go there we won't survive the aftermath of that theoretical meteor.
moogly 7y ago
Life on Mars would be so horrible as to not be worth it for the vast majority of people, I'm sure. "Beats being dead", you might say, but I disagree. Not to mention it's still unclear if it's physiologically possible for humans to survive long-term off planet Earth.
idlewords 7y ago
What did exploring the Moon bring us?
- A2017U1 7y ago
  A photo of one tiny world in a vast cosmos. A worldwide symbol that no amount of propaganda or violence could ever achieve.
  - HNLurker2 7y ago
    You sound like Carl Sagan. Stop this nihilism
- toephu2 7y ago
  CAT scanner, computer microchip, cordless tools, ear thermometer, insulation, satellite television, etc [1] [1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/5893387/Apollo-11-moon-landing-top-15-Nasa-inventions.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/5893387/Apoll...
  - idlewords 7y ago
    Not sure about the ear thermometer or cordless tools, but I'm pretty certain we would have gotten the computer chip and satellite TV without sending a guy to the Moon.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

bunderbunder 7y ago

The meteor strike wiped out the dinosaurs, but not all life. Mars currently has no life. The strong implication is that, Earth post meteor strike would still be far, far, far more habitable for humans than Mars ever will be. As far as why describing Mars as Earth's backup plan rubs people the wrong way, I think it's a bit like Noah's Ark. While there is absolutely the cute story about the boat full of animals, and it does make for a good story, there's also the "meanwhile literally everyone aside from a minuscule elect ends up dying" bit. Which would be nothing but sour grapes if you didn't see people holding up the possibility of colonizing other planets as a mitigating factor that implies that we really shouldn't be quite so worried about all the environmental damage that's happening here on Earth. But you do. Put it all together, and the complete narrative starts to sound like, "Sure, we're recklessly hurtling toward turning the planet into an inhospitable shithole for billions of people, but don't worry about that, because 0.00000005% of them are going to get to live on a completely different inhospitable shithole instead!" Which, disclaimer, I'm not wanting to pan human space exploration. But I much prefer the "exploration for the sake of adventure and discovery" narrative. If that's not good enough, the ground to retreat to should be robots, not messianic fables for rich people.

aeternus 7y ago
What is the actual goal of environmentalism on earth? If it is to preserve diverse species, then it absolutely makes sense to colonize other planets and spread the wide variety of plants, animals, and other organisms. The earth will eventually be burned up by the sun.
- bunderbunder 7y ago
  Let's keep a sense of perspective here. What the sun's going to be doing a billion or so years from now seems like a rather remote concern compared to entire countries being underwater in a few decades. If interstellar space travel is ever practically attainable - and, FWIW, that is still a controversial subject - then humans absolutely will figure it out. Or rather, they will just so long as they manage to extend both their existential and economic trajectories far enough for it to matter. Ain't nobody gonna be able to develop that kind of technology from Mars; they'll be way too busy on more prosaic tasks, like repeatedly checking their domes for leaks.
  - spurgu 7y ago
    > Let's keep a sense of perspective here. So like a few million years?
wongarsu 7y ago
> The meteor strike wiped out the dinosaurs, but not all life. Mars currently has no life. The strong implication is that, Earth post meteor strike would still be far, far, far more habitable for humans than Mars ever will be. Sure, but nobody today is researching the technology to survive a post-dinosaur-meteor earth. If it gets developed at all that's due to our space programs and our desire to survive on the Moon and Mars. So unless we go there we won't survive the aftermath of that theoretical meteor.

moogly 7y ago

Life on Mars would be so horrible as to not be worth it for the vast majority of people, I'm sure. "Beats being dead", you might say, but I disagree. Not to mention it's still unclear if it's physiologically possible for humans to survive long-term off planet Earth.

idlewords 7y ago

What did exploring the Moon bring us?

A2017U1 7y ago
A photo of one tiny world in a vast cosmos. A worldwide symbol that no amount of propaganda or violence could ever achieve.
- HNLurker2 7y ago
  You sound like Carl Sagan. Stop this nihilism
toephu2 7y ago
CAT scanner, computer microchip, cordless tools, ear thermometer, insulation, satellite television, etc [1] [1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/5893387/Apollo-11-moon-landing-top-15-Nasa-inventions.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/5893387/Apoll...
- idlewords 7y ago
  Not sure about the ear thermometer or cordless tools, but I'm pretty certain we would have gotten the computer chip and satellite TV without sending a guy to the Moon.