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Its real world though..if Kim Kardashin can do it why not them...wait..I didn't see it was going to be televised...

dogma wrote:

Orlanth wrote:
The analogy is closer than you might think. It involves moving away from familiar surroundings to take a long journey to a hostile environment filled with hidden dangers and opportunities, with little hope of return.

So, you're saying that the people who use all their savings to move from small town West Virginia in pursuit of an acting career in LA are comparable to the Mayflower colonists?
After all, both leave familiar surroundings in order to take a long journey to a hostile environment filled with hidden dangers and opportunities. And both have little hope of return if the endeavor fails.

If you want to be pedantic then going shopping in a high crime area counts.

However I suggest a less pedantic outlook.

Orlanth wrote:
We have already made the journey, we know what is on the other side. In both cases the colonists are the kernel of an isolated community so prior presence is not a requirement for the similarity in pioneering spirit.

So the aspiring actor I mentioned above has a pioneering spirit?

Orlanth wrote:
If you want to be pedantic then going shopping in a high crime area counts.

It does, and it indicates that your statement was poorly constructed.

And I'm not being pedantic, I'm actually reading the words you type.

Orlanth wrote:
However I suggest a less pedantic outlook.

Of course you do, it favors you. And further allows you to make comments without actually paying attention to what was said/written.

Orlanth wrote:
If he travels in a chuck wagon through Sioux territory maybe.

So there are matters of degree now?

Or we can step back and take this as a lesson to construe others statements less critically and construct our own with more thought.

Thanks, it isn't about being picky with wording. The words could be misinterpreted, however most can if you choose to try misinterpret them.

The initial comments were clear enough, there is a pioneering spirit in space exploration and the risks should be looked at that way rather than laughed off as crazy.

Put another way, taking two extremes, should astronauts that die exploring space deserve Darwin Award nominations for their suicidal stupidity or should they be seen as heroic martyrs of the struggle to expand the human sphere.

I would prefer to look towards the latter, certainly not the former.

Sure going to Mars one way is risky and has horrendous downsides, is this stupidity, or is it sacrifice. I think its a sacrifice and a worthy cause to spend a life. That sounds callous, but we spend lives all the time, soldiers are expected that they might have to take one for the team. This is no different, in fact on an individual basis is considerably more worthy than a life lost shoring up a no win situation in Afghanistan.

Could I conscience sending people one way to Mars, yes unquestionably so.

Monster Rain wrote:

sirlynchmob wrote:Can we volunteer people to go?

tl;dr, eh?

Anyway, I'd totally go to Mars. I can't imagine anything on earth that's remotely as interesting as being one of the first humans to ever set foot on another planet.

Pretty much this. I would totally volunteer for this.

Thats an extreme HIGH RISK ENDEAVOR

I hope the travelers bring their warhammer models with them so they don't go bored. Also, I'll go if I can still play Halo online. Where do I plug my cords in again? I wonder how fast the connection speed will be.

WarOne wrote:Or we can step back and take this as a lesson to construe others statements less critically and construct our own with more thought.

Or we can interject by making a statement that is self-contradictory, while pretending that we're witty.

Orlanth wrote:Thanks, it isn't about being picky with wording. The words could be misinterpreted, however most can if you choose to try misinterpret them.

Implying that there is something that cannot be misinterpreted.

Orlanth wrote:
The initial comments were clear enough, there is a pioneering spirit in space exploration and the risks should be looked at that way rather than laughed off as crazy.

No, that isn't what you said. Had you said that initially, there would be no issue here.

I'm damn sure there are thousands of Americans wanting to sign up


Imagine the feeling of OMG What Am I Forgetting!

Return ticket?

Jihadin wrote:Return ticket?

what part of ONE WAY does return have anything to do with?

Jihadin wrote:Thats an extreme HIGH RISK ENDEAVOR

No Sacrifice, No Victory?

I would be living on fething MARS. Your arguement is invalid.

what part of ONE WAY does return have anything to do with?

Selective reading by the individuals who are excited to get a chance to go to Mars

Surely it'd be better to send 10 scientists instead of civilians?

timetowaste85 wrote:Also, I'll go if I can still play Halo online. Where do I plug my cords in again? I wonder how fast the connection speed will be

You would have to play split screen for the rest of your life, oh the horror.

Jihadin wrote:

what part of ONE WAY does return have anything to do with?

Selective reading by the individuals who are excited to get a chance to go to make history.

Fixed. Do or Die Trying!

Warp going to claim them

Platuan4th wrote:Luna, where's Stage 6?

WHAT ARE THEY HIDING FROM US?!

Sorry my posts makes less since as it gets past 11 pm xD

That and the panic mentioning them harnessing biomass could make.

dogma wrote:
So, you're saying that the people who use all their savings to move from small town West Virginia in pursuit of an acting career in LA are comparable to the Mayflower colonists?

After all, both leave familiar surroundings in order to take a long journey to a hostile environment filled with hidden dangers and opportunities. And both have little hope of return if the endeavor fails.

Of course they are comparable - the degree to which they are is arguable, but the fact that they are isn't.

True. I was riffing off the idea that a sufficiently vague set of criteria can be applied to many different, and often unanticipated, cases.

Whilst I agree that a 1 way mission would be our best bet, I dont think the way it is suggested here is the best way to go about it...

Didn't all those 'Space Colony' experiments start to fall apart after a while? So unless these people are screened extensively there will definitely be problems.

Wouldn't the low gravity of Mars/The Journey make it incredibly difficult to come back anyway?

You'd only have certain windows to come back too due to the Planets orbit relative with Earth.

Personally, I'd love to do this, but I'd imagine they will be sending top men... top. men.

I highly doubt that this is going to end up happening. I don't think there's any way there going to be able to be sending stuff by 2018.

Medium of Death wrote:
Personally, I'd love to do this, but I'd imagine they will be sending top men... top. men.

There's a big, big difference between loving the idea, and actually executing it.

Granted, you could probably sneak some low weight cargo in the inventory, PC games, but its still a demand situation.

The rule is you'll always get mad at your roommate at least once, only now you can't stomp out for a smoke.

I'm in.



I know it's a terrible idea. But I have a very, very short list of things that I want to accomplish, and space travel is on it. (mind you, so it "punch out a dinosaur"...)

One thing to keep in mind is that, once we actually have a functioning colony there, there will be immense incentive to develop better technologies that will allow 2 way trips between Mars and Earth. The biggest issue is actually not getting between the planets, its getting from the planets surface into space and from space down to the planet.

As soon as a shuttlecraft is developed that can reach escape velocity without the aid of a giant rocket we are in business.

Companies will be lining up accross the globe trying to get a position to start terraforming and mining Mars.

dogma wrote:
The rule is you'll always get mad at your roommate at least once, only now you can't stomp out for a smoke.

Feth this i'm going outside...

New it was a joke when I read "He told foxnews.com."

I wondered how long it would be until a Total Recall pic showed up..

My thinking is there will be no shortage of people wanting to sign up for this - although I would question whether the first person to set foot on Mars is realistically going to be anyone other than an American or a Chinese as part of that country's government space agency.