4 ms·

Its just one of those goals that people setup to distract themselves from the boredom of current problems

• Melting_Harps 4y ago
  > Its just one of those goals that people setup to distract themselves from the boredom of current problems I think it has many benefits, chief among them will be the innovation in tech and engineering we will derive from it, in addition to a much needed perspective change: it seems that Life is rare and that treating our Home planet with reverence will be a priority if the species is to survive. I think the resources and drive to get us to Mar is enough to make all of those things happen, what I don't think will occur without an immense level of investment is to have a sustainable colony not dependent on Earth or space-based manufacturing for some time. It's hard to see how, in our current path, we do not end up just squandering all of the progress we have made these last ~300k years as a Species and succumb to extinction because we refused to learn the hard lesson that Humanity seems to only thrive when it is faced with an immense, often existential endeavor; I wish we could just be so enlightened as to get along as Humans and solve all the Earth based problems, but it seems that only under extreme duress are we able to make any impact on these immense problems. And so far, at least in my Lifetime, I don't think anything but Mars colonization has the potential to make any of that happen. It isn't so much distraction, as it is to re-imagine what our destiny and what Life could be.