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[Mark Mayers]

I'm leaving this planet to return to my people.

[Dacke]

mmm... cold barren desert without any air, just my kind of place

[FK in the Coffee]

The idea of a Mars mission is really exciting but also Elon Musk is a totally ruthless capitalist/all-around awful human being who gets all the credit for the efforts of his overworked and underappreciated workforce and I'm not a big fan of that

[s0]

elon musk thinks we're living in the martrix anyway so does it really matter

[Capntastic]

I will drive a tesla roadster on mars

[ProgramGamer]

Going to Mars is one of the coolest things ever

but

What is the significance of going to Mars at this point in history?

[s0]

What is the significance of going to Mars at this point in history?

why does a dog lick its own testicles?

[Schoq]

you know how the unsustainable ways of life on earth are rapidly moving us towards a point of global collapse of critical life sustaining systems on this planet? well,

[FK in the Coffee]

If we can't even fix our own planet's atmosphere, I don't see how fixing Mars's is in the realm of possibilities

[s0]

I'd rather eat a mars bar tbh

[ProgramGamer]

No, really, why would we move to Mars at this point in history? We have so many other problems to solve on planet Earth already. That's like running away from your responsibilities.

[Capntastic]

People can do more than one thing at a time

[Dacke]

the easy answer is that we can't actually move there

theoretically, having easy access to Mars could be useful for local problems, like using it as a testing ground for bioengineering techniques and whatnot

but those who think we can make humanity a true multi-planetary species by moving to mars are just bonkers
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2016/09/28/we-are-not-going-to-escape-to-other-planets/

[jamesprimate]

Well not with THAT attitude were not

[s0]

People can do more than one thing at a time

speak for yourself

[Schoq]

throwback friday

I said 'you know what, when they start selling iPhones on Mars, that's when it'll matter to me.' I said 'what do you think they're gonna do with this news?' I said 'look at the temperature data, that has been reported by NASA, has been made up, it's fraudulent for however many years, there isn't any warming, there hasn't been for 18.5 years. And yet, they're lying about it. They're just making up the amount of ice in the North and South Poles, they're making up the temperatures, they're lying and making up false charts and so forth. So what's to stop them from making up something that happened on Mars that will help advance their left-wing agenda on this planet?' And Snerdly paused 'oh oh yeah you're right.' You know, when I play golf with excellent golfers, I ask them 'does it ever get boring playing well? Does it ever get boring hitting shot after shot where you want to hit it?' And they all look at me and smile and say 'never.' Well folks, it never gets boring being right either. Like I am. But it doesn't mean it is any less frustrating. Being right and being alone is a challenging existence. OK so there's flowing water on Mars. Yip yip yip yahoo. You know me, I'm science 101, big time guy, tech advance it, you know it, I'm all in. But, NASA has been corrupted by the current regime. I want to find out what they're going to tell us. OK, flowing water on Mars. If we're even to believe that, what are they going to tell us that means? That's what I'm going to wait for. Because I guarantee, let's just wait and see, this is September 28, let's just wait and see. Don't know how long it's going to take, but this news that there is flowing water on Mars is somehow going to find its way into a technique to advance the leftist agenda. I don't know what it is, I would assume it would be something to do with global warming and you can -- maybe there was once an advanced civilization. If they say they found flowing water, next they're going to find a graveyard.

[Tumetsu]

The idea of a Mars mission is really exciting but also Elon Musk is a totally ruthless capitalist/all-around awful human being who gets all the credit for the efforts of his overworked and underappreciated workforce and I'm not a big fan of that

While certainly true I think humanity needs people like him for this kind of stuff. He definitely seems to have drive to change the world and pursue his visions which might ultimately benefit all of us and are not fore mostly targeted for making money (I mean there is easier ways to make money than electric cars and rockets). Also I think that it is kind of "silent agreement" that by working for him you'll work your ass off but get to work on potentially really impacting projects. I wouldn't like to work for him but I really understand why many people do.

No, really, why would we move to Mars at this point in history? We have so many other problems to solve on planet Earth already. That's like running away from your responsibilities.

We are not moving there anytime soon but our space technology has been in kind of hiatus excluding robot probes and ISS. Biggest obstacle is the costly rockets to get on to orbit. All cheaper and more advanced space tech SpaceX will develop should open all kinds of possibilities in space which were previously too costly. Mars is just a nice goal for now in same way as Moon was back in the day.

In not too distant future I think it might be possible to inhabit Mars in similar way as we inhabit Antarctica today (i.e. heavily dependent on Earth). In the long run we have to spread to space anyway if we want humanity to survive.

[J-Snake]

In the long run we have to spread to space anyway if we want humanity to survive.

You can't survive in space, that's the irony though. The next stars are just too far away.

[Tumetsu]

How so? Spreading to our solar system would be a great survivability improvement against local catastrophes. And when finally our Sun dies there should be enough knowledge and technology to move out if that haven't been done before.

Also, planets are not really required for living in space and built environments might turn out preferable option when enough knowledge and tech is available to build them. Of course that probably won't happen anytime soon but planet independent living is definitely possible.

Though if we reach that technological level humans themselves might be quite different from our current form.

[Dacke]

planet independent living is definitely possible.

Maybe? We're evolved to live on this planet and are dependent on it's incredibly complex global ecosystem to survive. I think it's entirely unclear if it's feasible, even in the long term, to have humans living off-planet in sufficiently large numbers for sufficiently long periods of time.

I also find it unclear what the motivations would be. If it's only to increase survival for the species (also not clear on why you'd care about that) it would likely be more efficient to have lots of self-sustaining and isolated colonies on earth (maybe in the form of bunkers, deep-sea cities, antarctic colonies). Which could make sure lots of people survived most kinds of events big enough to wipe most of the population (asteroids, pandemics, nuclear war). The huge benefit being that they would still get lots of benefits from being on earth, like better temperature ranges, easier access to water and oxygen, easier to build and so on.