The phallic imagery is so overpowering.
I also like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtBy_ppG4hY
In case it's not clear, I hate this "multiplanetary species" garbage.
I also like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtBy_ppG4hY
In case it's not clear, I hate this "multiplanetary species" garbage.
It's one thing to offer a contrary view, but please don't fulminate. The more contrary a view is, i.e. the more it contradicts the audience's beliefs, the more important it is to present substantively. Otherwise (assuming you're correct) you do a disservice to the truth, in addition to igniting the obvious flamewar and making this site worse.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12591757 and marked it off-topic.
1. Mars is a fucking desert. There is no air, water or life.
2. Venus is covered in CO2 clouds and sulfuric acid rain. Metal melts on its surface.
We are not going to live in space. To even WANT to live in space is an absurd fantasy that is in violent conflict with the reality of space as an airless, inhospitable, largely resourceless wasteland that requires enormous effort to travel through and survive in.
Why, then, does Musk insist we need to live in space? I think this is simply an update of our previous desire for an afterlife or a heaven. Since we are no longer willing to fantasize and organize around the Kingdom of Heaven, we've turned space into the Kingdom of Heaven, despite the fact that it has very few actual heavenly qualities.
Yes, it requires a lot of effort to do it. It required a lot of effort to build the first airplanes (I can find you many, many quotes similar to yours about how 'man was not meant to fly though the air like a bird'). That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to do it.
I will also remind you that at many points in history (for the vast majority of its existence in fact) the Earth was an inhospitable wasteland. Given time and innovation we can make space a more welcoming environment.
This is a false equivalence. Birds fly; they do not live on Mars.
>the Earth was an inhospitable wasteland.
The Earth did not become hospitable through human effort, as is required if we are supposed to live on Mars.
There is no doubt we would be doing something novel here, I don't think anyone is saying any different. The question is if it's A. possible and B. worth the effort.
For Venus, the way to build a colony is to place it way up in the atmosphere, at Earth pressure.
Venus is even worse; it has a day longer than its orbital period.
If your idea of a good life is floating above a pool of noxious gases, there are plenty of places on Earth you could accomplish the same for much less money and effort.
In addition, because I believe it is worthwhile to attempt difficult things to see what we can achieve. Inspiration is a valid goal.
Human civilization has a lot of problems. I don't know how to solve them. I believe that demonstrations of human ingenuity, capability, and technological aptitude have the potential to cause people to aspire to achieve something, maybe to solve "real problems".
The best part is that they aren't mutually exclusive. I'm all in favor of improving life on Earth too, and I'm interested in hearing some of your ideas of ways to solve the problems we have here.
All those nice dots are potentially dangerous asteroids :)
And also, to prove we can.