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I look forward to people figuring out how to create a sustainable biosphere out of raw materials when we can't figure out how to keep a pre-existing rich one he

I look forward to people figuring out how to create a sustainable biosphere out of raw materials when we can't figure out how to keep a pre-existing rich one healthy. Somehow the economic incentives in the outposts will prevent them from screwing things up? If they are small enough they could keep a lid on the entropy from divergent human behaviors, including the basic tendency to say "I can waste this/destroy this, my action doesn't affect the whole very much". But they also need to be large enough to be functional. If they're all fully automated and people just need to live their lives- wish we could have that on Earth, but economically it will never happen.

JohnMakin 2y ago
> I look forward to people figuring out how to create a sustainable biosphere out of raw materials when we can't figure out how to keep a pre-existing rich one healthy. This is what I always raise when people start fantasizing breathlessly about mars colonization. Even if we possessed the technology to terraform a planet like mars in a way that could sustain human life long term, the presumable incentives to doing so (escaping a decreasingly habitable earth) don't make sense, because we could then just use that technology to terraform our own environment. None of it makes sense because it's fantasy used to raise money.
- DarmokJalad1701 2y ago
  > the presumable incentives to doing so (escaping a decreasingly habitable earth) Is that the only incentive? Is that one that is officially claimed as the reasoning for any of the current such endeavors?
  - quantified 2y ago
    It's been shared by some number of people, perhaps not by these few who are actually in a position to influence the effort. But I think this sort of counts: > "Why are we doing this?" Musk said at the company's February 2022 Starship progress update. "I think this is an incredibly important thing for the future of life itself ... there's always some chance that something could go wrong on Earth. Dinosaurs are not around anymore!" [https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-mars-city-codex https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-mars-city-codex]
    - DarmokJalad1701 2y ago
      I believe he is talking about black swan event like an asteroid impact. Not the current problems with climate change. It's more about there being another branch of humanity that's thriving than for people to "escape".
theonething 2y ago
> we can't figure out how to keep a pre-existing rich one healthy greenfield projects are always more fun (until they become messes as well)
hooverd 2y ago
Da inyalowda think that by just going to space it'll solve all our problems, ke?
DonsDiscountGas 2y ago
I always wonder about this. I tend to assume that people like Bezos and Musk aren't stupid, but rather saying what people want to hear. "Colonize Mars" is more inspiring than "launch a lot of stuff into orbit" to people I guess. And the latter may well be worth the money to humanity.

JohnMakin 2y ago

> I look forward to people figuring out how to create a sustainable biosphere out of raw materials when we can't figure out how to keep a pre-existing rich one healthy. This is what I always raise when people start fantasizing breathlessly about mars colonization. Even if we possessed the technology to terraform a planet like mars in a way that could sustain human life long term, the presumable incentives to doing so (escaping a decreasingly habitable earth) don't make sense, because we could then just use that technology to terraform our own environment. None of it makes sense because it's fantasy used to raise money.

DarmokJalad1701 2y ago
> the presumable incentives to doing so (escaping a decreasingly habitable earth) Is that the only incentive? Is that one that is officially claimed as the reasoning for any of the current such endeavors?
- quantified 2y ago
  It's been shared by some number of people, perhaps not by these few who are actually in a position to influence the effort. But I think this sort of counts: > "Why are we doing this?" Musk said at the company's February 2022 Starship progress update. "I think this is an incredibly important thing for the future of life itself ... there's always some chance that something could go wrong on Earth. Dinosaurs are not around anymore!" [https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-mars-city-codex https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-mars-city-codex]
  - DarmokJalad1701 2y ago
    I believe he is talking about black swan event like an asteroid impact. Not the current problems with climate change. It's more about there being another branch of humanity that's thriving than for people to "escape".

theonething 2y ago

> we can't figure out how to keep a pre-existing rich one healthy greenfield projects are always more fun (until they become messes as well)

hooverd 2y ago

Da inyalowda think that by just going to space it'll solve all our problems, ke?

DonsDiscountGas 2y ago

I always wonder about this. I tend to assume that people like Bezos and Musk aren't stupid, but rather saying what people want to hear. "Colonize Mars" is more inspiring than "launch a lot of stuff into orbit" to people I guess. And the latter may well be worth the money to humanity.