

Will a Colony on Mars Save Us Humans from Extinction? - epi0Bauqu
http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2008/04/will-a-colony-on-mars-save-us-humans-from-extinction.html

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scott_s
Us trying to colonize Mars now would be like the British trying to colonize
the Americas with nothing but canoes. It's impractical with our current
technology; too long and too risky.

~~~
mechanical_fish
That is the understatement of the millennium. The Polynesians actually _did_
colonize the remote islands of the Pacific with nothing but canoes. No
problem.

The difference is that they found fresh water and air on, e.g., Easter Island.
To say nothing of the edible plants and the fish. And it took them at least
several hundred years to cut down all the trees. By contrast, I estimate that
the Martian forests will take approximately 0 years to be totally harvested --
which is just as well, because the Martian lumberjacks will be scared to take
out an axe lest they accidentally slice open their pressurized suits.

~~~
scott_s
I read National Geographic this month, too. Which is why I chose the Atlantic,
because island-hopping is not possible.

~~~
mechanical_fish
Now is when I wish that the real Vikings wore those cool horned helmets.
Because I just had this awesome vision of Leif Ericsson, horns and all,
glowering at you with the entire population of Iceland, Norse Greenland, the
Faeroes, and the Shetlands arrayed behind him and Led Zeppelin's _Immigrant
Song_ playing in the background. [1]

In other words: I'm guessing that the Atlantic is still five or six orders of
magnitude more navigable than outer space. ;)

I haven't read _National Geographic_ in years, actually, although I might go
check it out just to read about the Polynesians.

[1] If you find yourself wondering what I'm talking about, be sure to google
"Immigrant Song Kittens".

~~~
scott_s
Note that I deliberately said "canoes."

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sayhello
Terra-forming Mars would be pretty hard.

According to Dan Simmons in the novel Hyperion, we will need to develop
artificial intelligence to the point of singularity. Their gift to us from the
AI's evolved beyind singularity will be space/time singularities which will
allow us to travel and prosper in other worlds.

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Readmore
"Pick your poison. Nuclear holocaust. Disease. The death of our Sun. It
doesn't matter. "

I would suggest it does matter. The death of our Sun could not be avoided by
living on Mars.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Well, I was suggesting a colony on Mars would "start the process..." I think
it would be wise to colonize Mars before going extra-solar.

~~~
Readmore
Okay fair enough, I'll agree to that.

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aaco
This reminds me of Google on April Fools' Day, creating a project willing to
do exactly that.

<http://www.google.com/virgle/>

~~~
epi0Bauqu
That's funny, but it is also a shame Mars colonization has become a butt of
jokes instead of a reality. Or perhaps it means it is getting closer to
reality in peoples' minds if it is an April Fools Joke (in the sense those
jokes are often supposed to trick people)?

~~~
aaco
_Or perhaps it means it is getting closer to reality in peoples' minds if it
is an April Fools Joke_

I think that's true, but I don't see it as a shame to be a joke in any way. I
mean, in Google case, the joke is more in the application form and other
subtle things, like the last FAQ question
(<http://www.google.com/virgle/faq.html#11>) and the error page
(<http://www.google.com/virgle/error.html>), which says, amongst other things:

    
    
      "... Virgle isn't real.
      
      Yet."

