3 ms·

Because everyone assumes they'd be an explorer or visionary scientist when they'd most likely just be taking out the trash in a frozen desert.

by pc86 4y ago

LuckySalamander 4y ago
The closest experience to what living in space that can be experienced on earth is living on a submarine. Working with advanced tech in an environment where everything is trying to kill you, logistics challenges to maintain operation, schedule completely dictated for you, etc. But ask many people who want to live on Mars if they would go on a long underway on a submarine, and they don't seem to excited by the idea. I don't think people really think about the day to day operations, but jump on the fame/historical significance being one of the settlers on the moon or mars.
- nradov 4y ago
  It's kind of a moot issue anyway. I hope that a few human explorers will visit the Moon and Mars in the coming decades (and there will be no shortage of volunteers), but the notion of sending settlers there in our lifetimes is a total fantasy. Even if orbital launch costs come way down, the cost of protecting settlers (i.e. at least several dozen permanent inhabitants) from radiation exposure and toxic dust will be so high that no government or corporation could afford it.
- wincy 4y ago
  I’d probably go on a long underway on a submarine if it was on Mars, though.
renewiltord 4y ago
I don't think non-explorers really understand explorers. There were other people on Captain Cook's voyage and other people on Columbus's. Taking a shot at long odds is about knowing that you may fail. Lorisks want certainty and knowledge that they may not fail. Hirisks hope for uncertainty and the chance that they may succeed wildly. It is built in to a Hirisk's belief system that they may fail. But while a Lorisk might find it cringy to try and fail, a Hirisk won't. You won't really get it if you're not a Hirisk because you think "well what if I end up taking out the trash in a frozen desert" and they think "well what if I actually find or do something amazing". Sometimes you end up proving H. pylori or inventing cardiac catheterization and other times you go down in history as the guy who thought he invented the parachute and learned otherwise on the way down from the Eiffel Tower or worse, you don't go down in history at all.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  From a statistical standpoint, nobody goes down in history for anything
dotnet00 4y ago
I feel like in the 'cynicism' that's popular in tech circles like this about tech as a career, we tend to forget that many people's passions don't really have a lot to do with wanting to be famous or rich. This is to the point that we apparently can't fathom that someone simply wants to do something without any special stereotypically grand aspirations. Even in tech, some portion of people chose it for the money and some chose it purely as a passion, such that they would've chosen it even if there wasn't as much money to be made. I know that I would still be pursuing the same career even if I didn't get to work on the things I am currently working on. Remember that plenty of people work 'boring' jobs like garbage collection, being a janitor, being a soldier or riskier stuff with even worse conditions. Many of them are perfectly content with that as long as that doesn't get in the way of things that are important to them. So it's entirely reasonable that many people would genuinely be willing to happily sacrifice everything to go to Mars, simply for the sake of being there, regardless of any potential glamourous outcomes.
trafficante 4y ago
Indeed. It seems to be somewhat independent of political ideology as well. There’s a couple screenshots floating around of some old Twitter threads: “what would your role be in a Communist society?” - where virtually every single reply was stuff like “valued author of liberation poetry and group leader of mindfulness sessions” And then on the other side of the compass, you have the hordes of disaffected single young men glorifying the idealized “working the frontier with a wife and kids”, seemingly unaware/unconcerned that the average experience for young men was to die horribly, alone and unmourned. Everyone is the main character of their own story, I guess.

Because everyone assumes they'd be an explorer or visionary scientist when they'd most likely just be taking out the trash in a frozen desert.

by pc86 4y ago

Because everyone assumes they'd be an explorer or visionary scientist when they'd most likely just be taking out the trash in a frozen desert.

LuckySalamander 4y ago

The closest experience to what living in space that can be experienced on earth is living on a submarine. Working with advanced tech in an environment where everything is trying to kill you, logistics challenges to maintain operation, schedule completely dictated for you, etc. But ask many people who want to live on Mars if they would go on a long underway on a submarine, and they don't seem to excited by the idea. I don't think people really think about the day to day operations, but jump on the fame/historical significance being one of the settlers on the moon or mars.

nradov 4y ago
It's kind of a moot issue anyway. I hope that a few human explorers will visit the Moon and Mars in the coming decades (and there will be no shortage of volunteers), but the notion of sending settlers there in our lifetimes is a total fantasy. Even if orbital launch costs come way down, the cost of protecting settlers (i.e. at least several dozen permanent inhabitants) from radiation exposure and toxic dust will be so high that no government or corporation could afford it.
wincy 4y ago
I’d probably go on a long underway on a submarine if it was on Mars, though.

renewiltord 4y ago

I don't think non-explorers really understand explorers. There were other people on Captain Cook's voyage and other people on Columbus's. Taking a shot at long odds is about knowing that you may fail. Lorisks want certainty and knowledge that they may not fail. Hirisks hope for uncertainty and the chance that they may succeed wildly. It is built in to a Hirisk's belief system that they may fail. But while a Lorisk might find it cringy to try and fail, a Hirisk won't. You won't really get it if you're not a Hirisk because you think "well what if I end up taking out the trash in a frozen desert" and they think "well what if I actually find or do something amazing". Sometimes you end up proving H. pylori or inventing cardiac catheterization and other times you go down in history as the guy who thought he invented the parachute and learned otherwise on the way down from the Eiffel Tower or worse, you don't go down in history at all.

mrguyorama 4y ago
From a statistical standpoint, nobody goes down in history for anything

dotnet00 4y ago

I feel like in the 'cynicism' that's popular in tech circles like this about tech as a career, we tend to forget that many people's passions don't really have a lot to do with wanting to be famous or rich. This is to the point that we apparently can't fathom that someone simply wants to do something without any special stereotypically grand aspirations. Even in tech, some portion of people chose it for the money and some chose it purely as a passion, such that they would've chosen it even if there wasn't as much money to be made. I know that I would still be pursuing the same career even if I didn't get to work on the things I am currently working on. Remember that plenty of people work 'boring' jobs like garbage collection, being a janitor, being a soldier or riskier stuff with even worse conditions. Many of them are perfectly content with that as long as that doesn't get in the way of things that are important to them. So it's entirely reasonable that many people would genuinely be willing to happily sacrifice everything to go to Mars, simply for the sake of being there, regardless of any potential glamourous outcomes.

trafficante 4y ago

Indeed. It seems to be somewhat independent of political ideology as well. There’s a couple screenshots floating around of some old Twitter threads: “what would your role be in a Communist society?” - where virtually every single reply was stuff like “valued author of liberation poetry and group leader of mindfulness sessions” And then on the other side of the compass, you have the hordes of disaffected single young men glorifying the idealized “working the frontier with a wife and kids”, seemingly unaware/unconcerned that the average experience for young men was to die horribly, alone and unmourned. Everyone is the main character of their own story, I guess.