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> how bad do the conditions on Earth have to get before it makes sense to try to move to a planet that is essentially uninhabitable? Fort Bridger, Wyoming has

> how bad do the conditions on Earth have to get before it makes sense to try to move to a planet that is essentially uninhabitable? Fort Bridger, Wyoming has a population of 345[0]. California has a population of nearly 40 million[1]. Should those crazy people of the 19th century never have bothered with Fort Bridger? Inhabiting a habitable planet outside our solar system is so far beyond our current capabilities that there is no point putting any money in to it. Any kind of foothold on a second planet within our solar system would change that reality. Routine travel between Earth and Mars would provide heaps and heaps of experience and capability. It would make any discussion of colonizing outside our solar system much more reasonable than it is today. Inhabiting Mars was never the end goal. It just happens to be the most practical one in a much much much larger picture. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bridger,_Wyoming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bridger,_Wyoming 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California

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leoh 7y ago
You can breathe and find sustenance in Fort Bridger if you have human skills that have existed for dozens of millenia.
- freeopinion 7y ago
  To be pedantic, evidence indicates that humans have not existed (on Earth) for dozens of millenia. Human skills to breathe and find sustenance below the ocean surface have been common enough for 70+ years. Do you really require that we wait millenia before we try it on another planet?
  - evgen 7y ago
    To be pedantic right back, you dropped an 'n' in the word and a 'millennia' is 1000 years. Yes, humans have existed on earth for dozens of millennia and in fact we have evidence of early civilizations from around a dozen millennia ago.
  - leoh 7y ago
    You're missing my point. Although attempting to reach Mars may be wise, Fort Bridger is not an effective analogy. By the time we had reached Fort Bridger, humans had already traveled across huge territories and had already learned to live in incredibly adverse environments. Perhaps we ought to strive for Mars precisely because it's so different than anything we've done before. But as far as existing known human capabilities go, it's not going to be as obviously possible as Fort Bridger.

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leoh 7y ago

You can breathe and find sustenance in Fort Bridger if you have human skills that have existed for dozens of millenia.

freeopinion 7y ago
To be pedantic, evidence indicates that humans have not existed (on Earth) for dozens of millenia. Human skills to breathe and find sustenance below the ocean surface have been common enough for 70+ years. Do you really require that we wait millenia before we try it on another planet?
- evgen 7y ago
  To be pedantic right back, you dropped an 'n' in the word and a 'millennia' is 1000 years. Yes, humans have existed on earth for dozens of millennia and in fact we have evidence of early civilizations from around a dozen millennia ago.
- leoh 7y ago
  You're missing my point. Although attempting to reach Mars may be wise, Fort Bridger is not an effective analogy. By the time we had reached Fort Bridger, humans had already traveled across huge territories and had already learned to live in incredibly adverse environments. Perhaps we ought to strive for Mars precisely because it's so different than anything we've done before. But as far as existing known human capabilities go, it's not going to be as obviously possible as Fort Bridger.