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This is not what the grandparent meant, and also not what anyone sane means when discussing establishing off world colonies. They are talking about an insurance
by zizee 4y ago
This is not what the grandparent meant, and also not what anyone sane means when discussing establishing off world colonies. They are talking about an insurance policy if we happen to get hit by an asteroid, or world war III breaks out, or a devastating pandemic, or any number of other civilization (or life) ending events.
No one wants the bad thing to happen, but instead they are saying "wouldn't it be smart to have redundancy". They're also not saying "ignore trying to save the environment because we have mars". It is very likely any effort to make mars into a habitable planet would dwarf fixing problems here on earth.
They're also not suggesting spending a significant amount of our resources on Mars, to the detriment of life here on earth.
- palata 4y agoThat's the thing: not everyone agrees on all that. I personally don't give a damn about saving a subset of humanity by sending them on Mars. But by doing that, we pollute, and that's part of the problem here on Earth (which I care about). Worse: they're not just sending a couple rockets, they send as many as they can, and build services like Starlink, which are about producing and consuming more, which again is part of the problem. I am of those who believe that if technology is a big part of the problem, then more of it won't make it better. But it's not like I have a choice, so instead of waiting for a potential asteroid that will kill me while some (rich US citizen, maybe?) survive on Mars, I am here waiting for the catastrophes we are creating.