Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/02/13/first-city-on-mars-no-thanks.html
…
8 Likes
Really? That looks hard and like something I personally don’t want to do, so we should give up and not go?
HEY EVERYONE! LETS NOT TRY!
whatever, man. There are those of us who’d like to try anyway.
15 Likes
We can’t manage a self sustaining colony on Antarctica yet. If we can’t manage that then a colony on Mars has a 0% chance of survival.
But I’m not going to stop you going if you insist.
35 Likes
so your neighbour, whose garden is filled with junk and is on fire, looks over the fence and sees an empty garden. is it a good idea for them to jump that fence? shouldn’t they put the fire out first? i guess its just the irresistible force of manifest destiny,
13 Likes
If we get a stupid Elon Musk vanity-colony on Mars before we figure out how to get instruments under the ice on Titan or Europa, or even just fugure out a craft that can explore inner Jupiter, I’ll be pretty disappointed.
8 Likes
I’m w/Nye too.
No air, no water, no thank you.
12 Likes
Let’s first figure out how to colonize the Moon before we head on to Mars.
4 Likes
That ain’t the kind of plays to raise your kids.
11 Likes
Neal deGrasse Tyson also gives a thumbs down.
2 Likes
Any human settlement of another planet will need one of 2 things to be successful…
Proper atmosphere and conditions for us to walk around on its surface without protective suits (as we do today on Earth). OR… a massive biodome that allows us to do the same thing and the dome is our protective suit.
6 Likes
No air, no water …
No food, no sunshine, no resources of any particular interest. Any precursors to organic life seem to have boiled off billions of years ago because there’s no internal dynamo generating the magnetic shield we enjoy on Earth (making this magnet mission perhaps the first thing to do… maybe 10k years from now the terraforming could start).
Venus is closer, right in the “goldilocks” zone as well, has water, CO2… I suppose the threat of being crushed and boiled on landing makes Venus seem less interesting, but I think that may be “immediacy bias”. 
NASA has thought about parking airships at the 50km level.
12 Likes
That depends on how they will turn out. I mean if they could turn into this guy as a result…I mean, I’d be down.
2 Likes
Colonizing Mars is just utterly fucking stupid and will remain so for a very long time. “Forever” is my guess.
It doesn’t make sense as a backup plan in case Earth gets smacked by a comet, or on any other level. All other issues aside (and there are many), the waste of resources would be overwhelming and unconscionable.
The few who really, truly want to go live in a terrarium with a minuscule subset of Earth life for an “ecosystem” can do that right here on this planet. Spoiler: it’s been tried and it’s much, much harder than it sounds.
6 Likes
So Arizona, only more dusty.
5 Likes
or, ya know…solve global warming…
7 Likes
As long as you pay your own way I have no problem.
Write if you find work!
8 Likes
I always say : “We’ll colonize Mars when Antarctica becomes too crowded.”
4 Likes
Even after a mass extinction event, (comet hit, nuclear winter etc.) it is difficult to imagine the Earth being LESS habitable than Mars is now.
12 Likes
Well, I say let’s go for it.
My question is this: in the concept art on the cover of that video, it shows a sprawling Mars base with many individual structures. Is that really the best way? It seems like one monolithic structure would be better.
One monolithic structure can be destroyed far easier than 100 small ones. With a big one, all it takes is someone with a beef and some dynamite to hold EVERYONE hostage. Someone would, inevitably. It’s akin to putting all your eggs in one basket.
4 Likes
