4 ms·

Put it this way - if you figure out a way to make Mars habitable - you can figure out disaster handling scenarios for any cataclism caused by global warming. T

Put it this way - if you figure out a way to make Mars habitable - you can figure out disaster handling scenarios for any cataclism caused by global warming. The scales are different since Mars wouldn't start with 7-8B people but conceptual breakthroughs are the first step before scaling. Solving Mars habitation is basically taking all the existential threats we're facing and bumping them up by several orders of magnitude (well maybe not all but the major issues at least, Mars doesn't have tsunamis for eg.). If you make that work anything that happens on Earth is a happy path.

edoceo 5y ago
but why go to mars when the problems are here?
- neatze 5y ago
  imagination.
- Baeocystin 5y ago
  Planetary RAID 1.
  - voqv 5y ago
    Good luck to humanity trying to resilver from that barren, desolate, wasteland.
- reader_mode 5y ago
  Going straight at the problem is valuable, but the beutifull thing about our society is that all of us don't have to do the same thing - finding solutions isn't always invest X into Y to solve it. I'm sure framing the problem in terms of colonising Mars is going to change so many fundamental assumptions. When you give people the task to solve X they go with what's already there and try to improve, and then they get stuck in a local minimum - software engineers should be able to appriciate this considering most of our industry is built on legacy design decisions from 70s and 80s. Project like Mars let's you go back to square one on a lot of implicit assumptions and see what comes out of it. Not to mention that it's going to be inspiring for a lot of smart people, both because of the difficulty and the scifi aspect. If they invested serious money into it I would be shocked if it didn't result in widespread real world innovations.
- koheripbal 5y ago
  Why would I want to live where there are problems? Do we have a duty to solve Earth's problems if we cannot convince other Earthers to help solve them? If might literally be easier to live sustainably on Mars under a single government made of non-idiots.
kaba0 5y ago
We can already not unfuck our planet, let alone play on hard mode...
- austhrow743 5y ago
  Who is "we" in that scenario?
pron 5y ago
> if you figure out a way to make Mars habitable - you can figure out disaster handling scenarios for any cataclysm caused by global warming. If a cataclysm on Earth ever makes inhabiting it even remotely as hard as making Mars habitable, then we've already lost. Besides, the challenges are so different that I don't see what one has to do with the other.
- reader_mode 5y ago
  >then we've already lost Lost what ? Extinction events happen without human intervention, reliance on a fragile ecosystem is not a long term survival strategy.
- antisol 5y ago
  "If a cataclysm on Earth ever makes inhabiting it even remotely as hard as making Mars habitable, then we've already lost." Damn. That's disappointing. Here I was thinking that 4 billion years before the sun enters its red giant phase was plenty of time to get our shit together. Guess I was wrong. Or are you saying you have a plan to prevent stellar evolution?
imtringued 5y ago
If we are willing to lose 7 billion people we might as well forget about climate change entirely.
koheripbal 5y ago
The big difference on Earth is that you have to convince a whole bunch of bad actors to act good, whereas on Mars, the small community can act in unison under one government.
- teachrdan 5y ago
  The "small community" would be run by the billionaires who could afford to move to Mars by choice.
  - koheripbal 5y ago
    Billionaires are the ones who can remain on Earth and able to buy paradise here, even if the rest of the world is burning. They'll be the last to go to Mars.

edoceo 5y ago

but why go to mars when the problems are here?

neatze 5y ago
imagination.
Baeocystin 5y ago
Planetary RAID 1.
- voqv 5y ago
  Good luck to humanity trying to resilver from that barren, desolate, wasteland.
reader_mode 5y ago
Going straight at the problem is valuable, but the beutifull thing about our society is that all of us don't have to do the same thing - finding solutions isn't always invest X into Y to solve it. I'm sure framing the problem in terms of colonising Mars is going to change so many fundamental assumptions. When you give people the task to solve X they go with what's already there and try to improve, and then they get stuck in a local minimum - software engineers should be able to appriciate this considering most of our industry is built on legacy design decisions from 70s and 80s. Project like Mars let's you go back to square one on a lot of implicit assumptions and see what comes out of it. Not to mention that it's going to be inspiring for a lot of smart people, both because of the difficulty and the scifi aspect. If they invested serious money into it I would be shocked if it didn't result in widespread real world innovations.
koheripbal 5y ago
Why would I want to live where there are problems? Do we have a duty to solve Earth's problems if we cannot convince other Earthers to help solve them? If might literally be easier to live sustainably on Mars under a single government made of non-idiots.

kaba0 5y ago

We can already not unfuck our planet, let alone play on hard mode...

austhrow743 5y ago
Who is "we" in that scenario?

pron 5y ago

> if you figure out a way to make Mars habitable - you can figure out disaster handling scenarios for any cataclysm caused by global warming. If a cataclysm on Earth ever makes inhabiting it even remotely as hard as making Mars habitable, then we've already lost. Besides, the challenges are so different that I don't see what one has to do with the other.

reader_mode 5y ago
>then we've already lost Lost what ? Extinction events happen without human intervention, reliance on a fragile ecosystem is not a long term survival strategy.
antisol 5y ago
"If a cataclysm on Earth ever makes inhabiting it even remotely as hard as making Mars habitable, then we've already lost." Damn. That's disappointing. Here I was thinking that 4 billion years before the sun enters its red giant phase was plenty of time to get our shit together. Guess I was wrong. Or are you saying you have a plan to prevent stellar evolution?

imtringued 5y ago

If we are willing to lose 7 billion people we might as well forget about climate change entirely.

koheripbal 5y ago

The big difference on Earth is that you have to convince a whole bunch of bad actors to act good, whereas on Mars, the small community can act in unison under one government.

teachrdan 5y ago
The "small community" would be run by the billionaires who could afford to move to Mars by choice.
- koheripbal 5y ago
  Billionaires are the ones who can remain on Earth and able to buy paradise here, even if the rest of the world is burning. They'll be the last to go to Mars.