4 hours ago, martin-w said:

Sending us to Mars could ensure the survival of the human race.

The MVP (minimum viable population) necessary for re-population of the human race has been normalized as 4169 individuals.

See:

• Minimum viable population size: A meta-analysis of 30 years of published estimates - ScienceDirect
• Minimum viable population - Wikipedia

3 hours ago, martin-w said:

Eventually we end up with a colony

Including some cats, I presume.

But, seriously, there may never be a place for animals, just humans and, possibly, specific beneficial insects, bacteria, etc. 

Edited December 13, 20214 yr by dmwalker

1 hour ago, martin-w said:

Hopefully you can now see that its not just about Musk having fun with rockets

Is it fair to say that only a few American private individuals have the resources to make this kind of commitment? I can't imagine Russian or Chinese billionaires having such resources or the desire. Also, governments can't do it because there would be no support for such an expenditure.

We, the human race, have about a billion years left on this planet (assuming we can control ourselves and stop the self-destruction currently underway). The planet itself will be here for about another 5 billion years. Why in God's name do you think Elon Musk is our savior? We have the next billion years to "fix" the problem. What we really need to do is solve the planet's problems today and worry about the human race's future 900 million years from now. I'm sure by then we'll have a far better solution than Elon Musk ever dreamed of. Going to Mars now will accomplish absolutely nothing.

Edited December 13, 20214 yr by W2DR
kant spel

49 minutes ago, W2DR said:

Going to Mars now will accomplish absolutely nothing.

My response to this would shut the thread down.  I could write a thousand word essay on going to Mars versus solving the economic, medical, food distribution, poverty, homelessnes and infrastructure repair issues that are badly in needed of addressing on our own planet.  In the United States alone 10% of us live in poverty.    Not that money alone will solve these problems, but funding agencies that meet the needs of people and donating campaign funds to politicians who will support the needs of people in need instead of the donor's personal agenda would go a long way.

It's like trashing your house and then instead of fixing it up going across town to buy a new one. 

"This old town is a mess.  Homeless people living in squalor.  People begging for money.  Lets go across the tracks and build an exclusive neighborhood just for us who are the right age and in excellent health and are wealthy and leave the riff-raff behind."

Noel

 

 

Edited December 13, 20214 yr by birdguy

Mars:  One small step for a billionaire, one giant leap for mankind. 

😄

Hook

46 minutes ago, W2DR said:

We, the human race, have about a billion years left on this planet (assuming we can control ourselves and stop the self-destruction currently underway)

But, if we can't control ourselves and stop the self-destruction, which has been the case so far, we may have about 100 years. Saving the planet is the world governments' responsibility, not Elon Musk's responsibility. The governments are struggling with Plan A, so Elon Musk is developing Plan B. It's very laudable to give $6B for world hunger but he would need to give that every year to make any lasting improvement and that won't do anything for pollution, climate change, etc. Only governments can do that and I'm afraid that, human nature being what it is, they will do too little too late, hence Elon Musk's Plan B.

11 minutes ago, LHookins said:

Mars:  One small step for a billionaire, one giant leap for mankind.

How much will a billion dollars be worth on Mars?

43 minutes ago, birdguy said:

It's like trashing your house and then instead of fixing it up going across town to buy a new one. 

Since only a few thousand would go to Mars, it's more like you trashing your house and your children moving out and going across town to buy their own one.

I just cancelled my subscription to Time magazine. And I, too, am outta here.

Edited December 13, 20214 yr by W2DR

2 hours ago, dmwalker said:

It's very laudable to give $6B for world hunger

Is that going to come out of his own fortune or from the $50 billion he's received in government subsidies?

Noel

I don't know but, if it's out of his own fortune, it's laudable and, if it's from the government subsidies, you could say he is redirecting government money to where it should have gone in the first place. That's not entirely bad, is it? It shouldn't necessarily make him Time Magazine Man of the Year but i don't know their criteria and i don't know how meaningful the award is. I just ignore it.

If he refuses any more government subsidies, I doubt if any of that money would go to feeding the world's hungry.

I could be wrong. There's always a first time.

Edited December 13, 20214 yr by dmwalker

19 hours ago, dmwalker said:

Including some cats, I presume.

But, seriously, there may never be a place for animals, just humans and, possibly, specific beneficial insects, bacteria, etc. 

 

I think that depends on the size of the colony. I cant see why not with a sizable enough colony. 

Edited December 14, 20214 yr by martin-w

16 hours ago, W2DR said:

We, the human race, have about a billion years left on this planet (assuming we can control ourselves and stop the self-destruction currently underway). The planet itself will be here for about another 5 billion years. Why in God's name do you think Elon Musk is our savior? We have the next billion years to "fix" the problem. What we really need to do is solve the planet's problems today and worry about the human race's future 900 million years from now. I'm sure by then we'll have a far better solution than Elon Musk ever dreamed of. Going to Mars now will accomplish absolutely nothing.

 

Huh... we do not have the next 5 billion years. How many planet killing asteroids do you think we will face in 5 billion years? How many chances for nuclear armageddon will we face over a 5 billion year period? How many opportunities for a mega CME will we face? 

Of course we need to solve the planets problems now, and Elon Musk spending his money building a rocket and developing the technology to provide us with a "Plan B" is not just a good idea, its essential. 

Musk developing such technology doesn't stop us fixing the worlds problems, its not "one or the other". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 hours ago, birdguy said:

I could write a thousand word essay on going to Mars versus solving the economic, medical, food distribution, poverty, homelessnes and infrastructure repair issues that are badly in needed of addressing on our own planet. 

 

Why on Earth do you think Elon Musk developing cheaper, cleaner, reusable spacecraft stops us doing any of those things? 

 

16 hours ago, birdguy said:

It's like trashing your house and then instead of fixing it up going across town to buy a new one.

 

Of course its not. Its about doing what we can to fix this planet while having an alternative plan b.