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> We are destined for the stars. The stars suck, though. Even Mars is entirely awful. Like, that's not very different from "we're destined for Hell". Not an i

> We are destined for the stars. The stars suck, though. Even Mars is entirely awful. Like, that's not very different from "we're destined for Hell". Not an inspiring sentiment, right? It's really bad. How awful it is aside, it's also roughly as realistic as "we're destined for Tolkien's Middle Earth". Only marginally less fantastical.

idiotsecant 1y ago
First orbit, then mars, then the stars.
- nativeit 1y ago
  First orbit, then piss money away for 70-years with no discernible progress, then maybe Mars (for "reasons"), then we probably ruin the habitability of Earth long before "stars". I grant that's not as pithy as yours...
  - slipperydippery 1y ago
    Part of the trouble is that an Earth with "ruined" habitability (let's throw together both severe climate change and also a nuclear exchange, why not?) is still far better & easier to live on than anywhere else we know about. That's what I mean about space being just the worst. Like, it's so bad. Even Mars, which is relatively decent by space standards, is complete shit. Complete shit that's also insanely expensive to reach.
senectus1 1y ago
The ocean also sucked(s) but we have pushed our dominance into there as well. Dominating the environment is what we do. for better or worse... its the one true value we can measure ourselves against.
- whycome 1y ago
  We are very far from dominating the oceans.
- mikeyouse 1y ago
  The longest time spent under water is what, maybe a month or two for those on nuclear submarines? Which is probably 25% the length of one leg of the mars trip? And subs can always just surface and call for help for 99% or problems they’d face? Just fantastical thinking that we’ll make any headway on that trip in the next 50 years.
sneak 1y ago
Mars is only “entirely awful” on the surface. It’s a fair sight better than the raw vacuum of space, and we already have permanent installations of people living there, both on Tiangong and ISS. It’s only “entirely awful” if you want to do things like walk around outside and sit under trees. It has a lot of co2 and h2o around, and while the sunlight situation isn’t great, it isn’t dire either.

idiotsecant 1y ago

First orbit, then mars, then the stars.

nativeit 1y ago
First orbit, then piss money away for 70-years with no discernible progress, then maybe Mars (for "reasons"), then we probably ruin the habitability of Earth long before "stars". I grant that's not as pithy as yours...
- slipperydippery 1y ago
  Part of the trouble is that an Earth with "ruined" habitability (let's throw together both severe climate change and also a nuclear exchange, why not?) is still far better & easier to live on than anywhere else we know about. That's what I mean about space being just the worst. Like, it's so bad. Even Mars, which is relatively decent by space standards, is complete shit. Complete shit that's also insanely expensive to reach.

senectus1 1y ago

The ocean also sucked(s) but we have pushed our dominance into there as well. Dominating the environment is what we do. for better or worse... its the one true value we can measure ourselves against.

whycome 1y ago
We are very far from dominating the oceans.
mikeyouse 1y ago
The longest time spent under water is what, maybe a month or two for those on nuclear submarines? Which is probably 25% the length of one leg of the mars trip? And subs can always just surface and call for help for 99% or problems they’d face? Just fantastical thinking that we’ll make any headway on that trip in the next 50 years.

sneak 1y ago

Mars is only “entirely awful” on the surface. It’s a fair sight better than the raw vacuum of space, and we already have permanent installations of people living there, both on Tiangong and ISS. It’s only “entirely awful” if you want to do things like walk around outside and sit under trees. It has a lot of co2 and h2o around, and while the sunlight situation isn’t great, it isn’t dire either.