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If we had a self-sufficient colony on Mars (or wherever), that could provide a reservoir of both population and (perhaps more importantly) civilization and tech

by Steuard 13y ago

If we had a self-sufficient colony on Mars (or wherever), that could provide a reservoir of both population and (perhaps more importantly) civilization and technology that would allow our descendants to return and re-colonize the Earth (or rebuild its infrastructure) after a major disaster. Even though Mars is clearly less habitable than Earth in general, the point is that the humans living there would be ready for it. If there were a disaster here that killed off most of our crops or something, society would collapse and have trouble recovering.

lutusp 13y ago
Given the relative conditions on Mars and Earth, the hypothetical disaster befalling Earth would have to be pretty horrendous for life on Mars to represent a positive alternative. I think we should colonize Mars, not because things on Earth might become impossible, but just because it's another planet, suitable for some adventurous, hardy souls to colonize.
- Steuard 13y ago
  I'm not claiming that life on Mars would ever be easier than life on Earth. But there are plenty of ways in which nasty things could happen on Earth that the population here is simply not prepared for. A major asteroid impact or supervolcano eruption could cause terrible weather for years (even if we don't go all the way to the "atmosphere is a pizza oven" point), and it would be awfully tough to keep feeding our cities. At that point, most industry collapses, and we're all interdependent enough that the ripple effects could wipe out the vast majority of the human population, or even all of it. Having a self-sufficient population on (say) Mars would make it likely that some portion of human civilization would survive such a disaster. I guess you might argue that we could achieve much of the same effect by using the same technologies to establish self-sufficient populations in safe(r) locations right here on Earth: underground or deep underwater, for example. But those would still be more affected by local disasters than a colony off-planet would be, and I feel like it would be harder to recruit people to live there (and harder to guarantee that they were truly self-sufficient). As you say, Mars would attract the adventurous. The Underground Civilization Vault would just attract the astoundingly paranoid.
  - erikpukinskis 13y ago
    We already have massive redundancy on earth: Different cities. Different continents. A supervolcano would destroy at most a few continents.
    - lutusp 13y ago
      > A supervolcano would destroy at most a few continents. Just for perspective, 70,000 years ago a supervolcano eruption in Indonesia with global effects nearly wiped out the human race (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory). On the basis of genetic diversity studies, it's estimated that all but somewhere between 3,000 to 10,000 people were killed. We may think ourselves immune from the consequences of a similar super-eruption today, but for most people in the world, people who aren't rich and who can't create a well-stocked underground shelter, the risk is very high.
erikpukinskis 13y ago
I don't understand why the Martians would be in a better position to re-colonize the Earth than the survivors on Earth.

by Steuard 13y ago

lutusp 13y ago

Given the relative conditions on Mars and Earth, the hypothetical disaster befalling Earth would have to be pretty horrendous for life on Mars to represent a positive alternative. I think we should colonize Mars, not because things on Earth might become impossible, but just because it's another planet, suitable for some adventurous, hardy souls to colonize.

Steuard 13y ago
I'm not claiming that life on Mars would ever be easier than life on Earth. But there are plenty of ways in which nasty things could happen on Earth that the population here is simply not prepared for. A major asteroid impact or supervolcano eruption could cause terrible weather for years (even if we don't go all the way to the "atmosphere is a pizza oven" point), and it would be awfully tough to keep feeding our cities. At that point, most industry collapses, and we're all interdependent enough that the ripple effects could wipe out the vast majority of the human population, or even all of it. Having a self-sufficient population on (say) Mars would make it likely that some portion of human civilization would survive such a disaster. I guess you might argue that we could achieve much of the same effect by using the same technologies to establish self-sufficient populations in safe(r) locations right here on Earth: underground or deep underwater, for example. But those would still be more affected by local disasters than a colony off-planet would be, and I feel like it would be harder to recruit people to live there (and harder to guarantee that they were truly self-sufficient). As you say, Mars would attract the adventurous. The Underground Civilization Vault would just attract the astoundingly paranoid.
- erikpukinskis 13y ago
  We already have massive redundancy on earth: Different cities. Different continents. A supervolcano would destroy at most a few continents.
  - lutusp 13y ago
    > A supervolcano would destroy at most a few continents. Just for perspective, 70,000 years ago a supervolcano eruption in Indonesia with global effects nearly wiped out the human race (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory). On the basis of genetic diversity studies, it's estimated that all but somewhere between 3,000 to 10,000 people were killed. We may think ourselves immune from the consequences of a similar super-eruption today, but for most people in the world, people who aren't rich and who can't create a well-stocked underground shelter, the risk is very high.

erikpukinskis 13y ago

I don't understand why the Martians would be in a better position to re-colonize the Earth than the survivors on Earth.