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Because that's boring. Once Mars colonies become a real possibility, obviously the missions will be tested on earth before we yeet billions of dollars to anothe

Because that's boring. Once Mars colonies become a real possibility, obviously the missions will be tested on earth before we yeet billions of dollars to another planet and hope it all works. But going through all that work and money solely for the purpose of an Earth bound terrarium is boring. Who would want to pay for that?

walleeee 5y ago
Not only is it a profound and fundamental capability if we intend to live off-planet, it's basically the only relevant capacity, conceived broadly (how to manufacture the means for indefinite survival given supplies of matter and energy). It's the universal constructor problem and our present solutions are fragile and primitive. There is virtually infinite room for improvement. How is that boring?
- visarga 5y ago
  could be useful in case of disasters, if we ever have to bunker up for a long time
- dougmwne 5y ago
  You’ve got it right here. If life’s ultimate purpose is to grow, we have a whole solar system we can grow into. Once we solve growth on planet two, we will be vastly closer to other planets, moons, asteroids and habitats. There’s a whole lot of energy and materials right here at this star and a whole lot of real estate that doesn’t require an environmental impact statement. Per aspera ad astra.
  - walleeee 5y ago
    regardless of questions of growth or ultimate purpose we need to be able to do this if we want to persist for any significant length of time in any habitat, planetary or otherwise a truly sustainable civilization can successfully manage its planetary (or ship- or station-borne) ecology and protect itself from threats with advanced technology equally well, and we are wildly immature in both capacities
rrix2 5y ago
i think youre putting the cart before the horse here. there is no possibility of a Mars colony without this work happening on earth.
- dahfizz 5y ago
  >> obviously the missions will be tested on earth before we yeet billions of dollars to another planet and hope it all works. That's my whole point. This work is only interesting as a precursor to doing it on another planet. Nobody has any motivation to do the work and spend the money without a direct connection to transferring it to another planet. Whenever someone says "why don't we just do it on earth first??". We will: but only as the testing phase of an actual mars colony mission.
  - walleeee 5y ago
    were we not actively making this planet more difficult to live on I would be a bit more likely to agree but even so there seems to be plenty of motivation do we not want to be resilient to e.g. solar flares, supervolcanoes, asteroid impacts/nukes/tungsten rods dropped from orbit, on Earth or Mars or anywhere

walleeee 5y ago

Not only is it a profound and fundamental capability if we intend to live off-planet, it's basically the only relevant capacity, conceived broadly (how to manufacture the means for indefinite survival given supplies of matter and energy). It's the universal constructor problem and our present solutions are fragile and primitive. There is virtually infinite room for improvement. How is that boring?

visarga 5y ago
could be useful in case of disasters, if we ever have to bunker up for a long time
dougmwne 5y ago
You’ve got it right here. If life’s ultimate purpose is to grow, we have a whole solar system we can grow into. Once we solve growth on planet two, we will be vastly closer to other planets, moons, asteroids and habitats. There’s a whole lot of energy and materials right here at this star and a whole lot of real estate that doesn’t require an environmental impact statement. Per aspera ad astra.
- walleeee 5y ago
  regardless of questions of growth or ultimate purpose we need to be able to do this if we want to persist for any significant length of time in any habitat, planetary or otherwise a truly sustainable civilization can successfully manage its planetary (or ship- or station-borne) ecology and protect itself from threats with advanced technology equally well, and we are wildly immature in both capacities

rrix2 5y ago

i think youre putting the cart before the horse here. there is no possibility of a Mars colony without this work happening on earth.

dahfizz 5y ago
>> obviously the missions will be tested on earth before we yeet billions of dollars to another planet and hope it all works. That's my whole point. This work is only interesting as a precursor to doing it on another planet. Nobody has any motivation to do the work and spend the money without a direct connection to transferring it to another planet. Whenever someone says "why don't we just do it on earth first??". We will: but only as the testing phase of an actual mars colony mission.
- walleeee 5y ago
  were we not actively making this planet more difficult to live on I would be a bit more likely to agree but even so there seems to be plenty of motivation do we not want to be resilient to e.g. solar flares, supervolcanoes, asteroid impacts/nukes/tungsten rods dropped from orbit, on Earth or Mars or anywhere