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There is no goal our species can undertake that is more important than getting some of our eggs the heck out of this way too fragile basket of a planet. Learnin
by hirundo 4y ago
There is no goal our species can undertake that is more important than getting some of our eggs the heck out of this way too fragile basket of a planet. Learning to survive on Mars is one of the most practical ways to approach that goal. Mars is just a little less horrible than the other reachable potential incubators.
- idlewords 4y agoWhy is it important that our species survive longer than Earth? Honest question.
- hirundo 4y agoThe value of our survival is entirely subjective. But if you value it up to the point of Earth's destruction, why would you stop valuing it afterwards?
- ffssffss 4y agoWhat's a situation where Earth is destroyed and Mars is habitable? It isn't climate change, since we could just use whatever Terraforming Magic Technology we used on Mars to fix Earth. It isn't an alien attack, since they'd notice us on Mars too. It isn't war, since landing people on Mars also means we could send weapons. What exactly are we solving for here?
- dragonwriter 4y agoChicxulub.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- sio8ohPi 4y agoEarth remains more habitable than Mars even following staggeringly large asteroid impacts. As evidence, note that 25% of species on earth survived Chicxulub; those species would not have survived transportation to Mars. And humans are well situated to be one of the survivors of a future large impact, by virtue of our tendency to burrow in the ground and to cache food. Indeed, one silver lining of the cold war is that major powers spent tremendous sums of money building fortifications with independent power and life support, as well as substantial food stockpiles, as well as numerous nuclear submarines which would weather the impact. Another Chicxulub might kill 8 billion people, and would be an immense humanitarian tragedy -- putting people on Mars won't save us from that. But we have the technology for survivors to ride it out today.
- dfee 4y agoWe found the nihilist. Thus, short of rehashing those debates, which is what you seem to desire, there is nothing here for you.
- idlewords 4y agoWhat's nihilistic about liking Earth? All my stuff is here, all my friends are here; the food is good.
- fasterik 4y agoWhy is it important that our species survive longer than Earth? Honest question. What's nihilistic about liking Earth? All my stuff is here, all my friends are here; the food is good. Whether intentional or not, the first question implies that the extinction of the human species would not be a bad thing. The second question is a non sequitur. The accusation of nihilism has nothing to do with liking Earth, it has to do with the apparent indifference to human survival.
- climech 4y agoApologies if I'm reading this wrong, but between this question, and casually comparing a possible origin of life on Earth to a venereal disease, it just all strikes me as very misanthropic. My answer would be -- it's important if we deem it important, whether that's rational or not. If we start from the premise that life is good, that humans in particular are the most interesting thing out there as far as we can see, then it isn't totally bizarre that we should wish for the show to continue, extend it as far as we can. In that view, being bound to the fate of our home planet seems like an arbitrary restriction.
- root_axis 4y ago> getting some of our eggs the heck out of this way to fragile basket of a planet Out of the frying pan and into the fire. If we cannot survive on earth it's impossible for us to survive anywhere else.
- chii 4y ago> If we cannot survive on earth it's impossible for us to survive anywhere else. sure, this is the case right now, but by increasing technology (through research and development), making space (or mars, or moon) habitable is an achievable goal. May be not in the short to medium term (as all of these habitats would require materials from earth to sustain), but in the long term, it should be possible to produce all required materials for survival and be independent from supplies send from earth.
- root_axis 4y agoI don't disagree that it could be possible in the long term future, I just disagree with the framing that its a worthwhile consideration with respect to the survival of the human race in any practical sense.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- rqtwteye 4y agoThere are no foreseeable risks to Earth unless we fuck it up ourselves. Going to Mars right now would cost an insane amount of money we would better spend on Earth. And Mars is way more hostile to life than even a messed up Earth would be.
- Tepix 4y agoWhat do you mean? There are several such risks, including the ongoing mass extinction event.
- throw_pm23 4y agoWhy would you exchange a planet that is halfway to becoming uninhabitable to one that is all way there.
- rqtwteye 4y agoName one risk that would make survival on Earth even remotely as hostile to life as Mars already is.