Well, then, we probably won’t ask you to do it. (-:
But, seriously, do you object to those of us who don’t share your beliefs going ahead and doing it without you?
Because that’s the plan.
SpaceX is going to Mars. Mostly because Elon wants to, and has a plan that might actually work.
The “sustainable civilization as backup for Earth” is PR spin to make it seem like something… more serious, something with… greater moral gravitas, somehow… than just a wealthy man’s quest for The Greatest Adventure Evar.
But that’s what it is, really. Elon wants people to colonize Mars, and he’s got the money to bootstrap a business plan that might actually succeed in doing that.
But that business plan requires an ongoing colony, not a once-and-done flags-and-bootprints national-pride exercise (in funneling taxpayer dollars to favored congressional districts).
Elon’s building a ‘railroad to Mars.’ The equivalent of the transcontinental railroads that opened the American West to colonization.
There are more than a few monied interests - universities, businesses, governments, private individuals - who see space as ‘the New Frontier’ and Mars, particularly as ‘the New California.’
Vast opportunities to be had by the adventurous and the daring. Some will succeed, some will fail.
But they all need the ‘railroad’ to get there. No one can afford to pay what it costs to go to Mars doing it the NASA way (including maybe even NASA). Waaaaay too expensive.
You don’t have to come along if you don’t want to.
And if you don’t want your tax dollars ‘wasted’ on buying NASA cheap SpaceX tickets to Mars, be sure to discuss that with your representatives.
But the rest of us are going, with or without you. (-:
