Terraforming Mars

[zapatos]

There might be stuff on Mars that makes it all worthwhile. There might not.

Then perhaps it is premature to suggest that "The only thing of interest about Mars is whether it has fossil life, or frozen remnants of life."

[Airbrush]

Then perhaps it is premature to suggest that "The only thing of interest about Mars is whether it has fossil life, or frozen remnants of life."

 

Or life existing NOW under the surface, such as in lava tubes.

Edited May 18, 2017 by Airbrush

[mistermack]

Then perhaps it is premature to suggest that "The only thing of interest about Mars is whether it has fossil life, or frozen remnants of life."

Most speculation is of a premature nature.

 

It's academic. You'll be dead before they find out. And so will I.

[zapatos]

Most speculation is of a premature nature.

 

It's academic. You'll be dead before they find out. And so will I.

There is a difference between 'speculation' and 'guess based on no data, and presented as an assertion'.

 

You moved the goalposts pretty quickly from "The only thing of interest about Mars is whether it has fossil life, or frozen remnants of life" to "There might be stuff on Mars that makes it all worthwhile. There might not".

[Raider5678]

I'd think that before investing in terraforming we'd do exploratory missions to try to determine whether or not there was anything of use there.

And if there was, you'd probably first try to acquire it using robotic labor, which dodges the whole need to change the atmosphere.

Well.

Even from earth you can look at mars and figure out the abundant resource that is all over there.

 

A possible place to colonize.

Just to have a back up colony on mars, in case something happens to Earth.

 

By the time there were millions of people living on mars, it would be self sustainable.

So that's the objective.

[mistermack]

There is a difference between 'speculation' and 'guess based on no data, and presented as an assertion'.

 

You moved the goalposts pretty quickly from "The only thing of interest about Mars is whether it has fossil life, or frozen remnants of life" to "There might be stuff on Mars that makes it all worthwhile. There might not".

The fine accuracy that you long for does you great credit. I can rest easy. The future of Mars is safe in your hands.

Well.

Even from earth you can look at mars and figure out the abundant resource that is all over there.

 

A possible place to colonize.

Just to have a back up colony on mars, in case something happens to Earth.

 

By the time there were millions of people living on mars, it would be self sustainable.

So that's the objective.

It's true that there must be abundant resources on Mars. But using them will be difficult.

It's costly to get there, and costly to get off. On a huge scale.

 

And colonies can't really be independent, unless you can produce the next generation.

Nobody knows what a fetus, or young child, will grow like, in gravity that is less than one g.

And I have my doubts that any moral society would choose to experiment by bringing up children on Mars.

 

Maybe, after several generations of apes had been produced on Mars, with no adverse developmental effects, they might think it safe and moral to bring up a child there.

It would all take hundreds of years to achieve.

[zapatos]

The fine accuracy that you long for does you great credit. I can rest easy. The future of Mars is safe in your hands.

 

 

Stay calm friend. It wasn't a personal attack. It was just a comparison to others who dismissed something as worthless without all the facts.

[mistermack]

 

Stay calm friend. It wasn't a personal attack. It was just a comparison to others who dismissed something as worthless without all the facts.

It's a false premise, though, isn't it?

If you give an opinion that something is worthless, it doesn't follow that you are saying it will never be worth anything.

Your example of Alaska is a bad one. It wasn't a case of not knowing all the facts. It was a case of not knowing the future. And that applies to everyone equally.

 

The people who sold Alaska were dead before the place became worth anything. And they were concerned with the present, not the chance that someone might strike gold thirty years later.

Similarly, Mars IS worthless today. Nothing that's there can possibly be worth the cost of getting it. Today.

If you go back and look, you will see that I wrote in the present tense.

 

The notion that it will NEVER be worth anything came out of your own head, not what I wrote.

 

Mars is of academic interest right now. The Moon could actually prove useful.

Edited May 19, 2017 by mistermack