# 28 Months on Mars



## wizehop (Jan 26, 2015)

Sites a wee bit interactive so cant really copy and paste, but worth checking out if your into this kind of thing!

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...dDev&kwp_0=8032&kwp_4=58644&kwp_1=120733&_r=0


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## Tude (Jan 26, 2015)

Very cool!  I like how they have all these places named already.


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## Odin (Jan 27, 2015)

I give that a like wizehop, along with thumbs up right here right now. 
I would hope if I could anthropomorphism the universe for a moment... that the universe would be proud of the homo sapien branch of life in this endeavor.
That we, who were barely knocking flint and stone together some hundred thousand years ago to master fire and cook our meat, are now sending robotic probes and doing tangible scientific research on an alien planet.
I wish so badly that large scale colonization would be possible within my lifetime. 
That is something I would give my life over to and bust my ass working seven days a week. 
To go to mars, colonize it and work to terraform and make it green and wet and habitable again. 
To create a new world. I would dedicate my life to that friends. It would simply be amazing.
Sometimes the human race is okay... not bad at all. ::cigar::


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## Kim Chee (Jan 27, 2015)

Odin said:


> I wish so badly that large scale colonization would be possible within my lifetime.
> That is something I would give my life over to and bust my ass working seven days a week.
> To go to mars, colonize it and work to terraform and make it green and wet and habitable again.
> To create a new world. I would dedicate my life to that friends. It would simply be amazing.
> Sometimes the human race is okay... not bad at all. ::cigar::



Haven't we fucked up this planet enough? Shouldn't we wallow in our shit and see if we can fix our little mess we made here right before exporting it? Well, at least Mars is still in the solar system.


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## Odin (Jan 27, 2015)

mmmmmmmichael said:


> Haven't we fucked up this planet enough? Shouldn't we wallow in our shit and see if we can make our little mess we made here right before exporting it? Well, at least Mars is still in the solar system.



That is a good and valid concern considering the state of human affairs today.

I would say that no I don't think we should fear that we are gonna export our "shit" and make things worse on other planets. As with all endeavors in humanity there will be opportunity for good and bad. Greed and destruction or Cooperation and brilliant progress.

From the one point you make that "we fucked up this planet enough?"

I try not to look at that as just a... function of the worst of humanity.

I don't try to look at it as the (polluters, environmental rapists, corporations, corrupt governments... exct....)

If I had to put it in how I see it sometimes. I would say the negative factors in todays society come down to the basic evolutionary competitive drives of survival vs the limited resources that we have.
This includes the drive to reproduce only your genetic line and to have a sense of "control" over reality.
I think that everyone on earth just earth could live a better life if we all lived more eco friendly and resource conscious lives. But that does not happen. The competitive drives creates those in society that always take they're larger share of the pie.
Now that is a negative social force on the planet that creates sociopath billionaires and ceo's and immoral choices in a profit based system.

But think of this.

How can you reduce those drives in the human race?

Well one way is to raise and educate people... in kind and conducive environments that will teach them to live a life more in harmony with each other and the spaces (planets, moons, asteroids, space stations, or otherwise) that they inhabit. But that is a large timely process...perhaps... and will not happen as fast as the second option I see. And that is taking the very thing that harms us and use it to subvert and change the human race.

That is where the colonization takes place... if we can by scientific and peaceful means... but if not I will use the greed of a corp as well. It might start out with profit based things like corporations and entrepreneurs looking to make profits mining an asteroid. But it will end up in the long run benefiting the race in a big way.

So with that... the first thing that colonization of mars would do is relieve the evolutionary pressures on earth. It would open up new areas of resources and possibly stabilize the population and class devisions. [although for an immediate effect like that it would take the technology for rapid and cheap space travel... (which I would like to mention as shitty as the world is now... even those big corporations are trying to develop... who is that billionaire with the spacex program is it...hehe... even if it is profit motivated at first... see what Im saying) so it might not at first...]

Yet as those that migrate off earth create an abundant new frontier on mars, we open up new resources and vast space for humanity to expand into from a planet that we are possibly in dire straits of chocking.
Now... not saying bad shit can't happen... and probably will, after all it will be a new wild west.

But this is just the first step.

See... the solar system is a big place... not even to mention the size of the universe... lol... so there is now way I believe we can out pace the size of the universe with our breeding. Yes humanity can grow and prosper but our lives are still finite and the universe is simply to big for us to multiply and fuck up completely like some out of control cancer.

Like I'm saying even the solar system is gigantic. And once we harness its resources we will improve everyones lives.
See if we can create abundance. *Abundance* of energy and resources. (hell asteroids are chock full of stuff we can use for energy and manufacturing for people to live better lives.

(As a side note, I want to comment on the importance of abundance. At least as long as humanity has to fight its destructive instincts and at least as long as it takes until we develop past them, then; Abundance will be a mitigating factor to our nature... the parts that push competition and destruction as means of survival. After all if every one has more energy, food, and other necessities of life than there is really no need to compete at the cost of your fellow human.)

Well as we move out and create abundance I believe that will lessen those aggressive evolutionary drives that make some in society go out of control with greed even at the cost of the bigger picture.

The point being by the time we gain full control of our sun and solar system for example. Lets say by utilizing a Dyson sphere... a level of technological advancement thats implicated as part of the kardashev scale... I mentioned back in chat a few days ago. By the time we do that... there simply will be too much for us to fuck up. We as a species will be free to expand and evolve way beyond our petty primitive human natures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

SO... ANYVAY >.>
A lot of what I say I suppose has to do with a lot of what ifs and the fact that the shitty part of humanity does not fuck up and destroy everything first before we get to the happy abundant chill super tech boing boing life.
Hehe... also I am writing from my own perspective of HOPE.

And I'm kinda good at BSing too... ...
But hell man. It's gotta happen. We have to go out there...
Because if we don't we will choke and die on this planet.
And if we do not... perhaps we will set ourselves back to the stone age at some point... but at least then we will have a chance to develop again.

I'll jst finish this with a quote from Aslan, "Further Up and Further In" (to the future) <....my addition.







Peace.


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## Kim Chee (Jan 27, 2015)

I'm not sure how to educate all the people about conservation. Some people don't want to learn how to conserve if it means they lose out on an opportunity to exploit a resource for financial gain.

Did you ever have a whole gallon of water and take big sloppy, spilling gulps, then smaller, more careful sips as it ran out?

Did you ever have a whole roll of toilet paper, blow your nose with it, use tons of sheets to get all the poop/piss off, yet used only a couple of sheets at a time as it ran out, even using the cardboard to make a final scrape? 

Ever spend money wastefully when you had a lot, buy nice drink and smokes, only to hang onto your last couple dollars, maybe giving them to somebody who was worse off than you?

If I am not alone, we tend to conserve the most when we are running out. Running out necessitates invention, craftiness and thoughtfulness about our resources and situation.

On topic: Most impressive that Rover has lasted far longer than was intended.


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