Interplanetary Colonisation - Why are we not funding/focussing human efforts towards it?

Oxide™

Oxide™

Oxide™

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Apologies if there's already a thread about this that I've missed.

I recently stumbled upon (perhaps I'm late to the party) a super interesting blog. One of the guys articles is where he interviews Elon Musk and blogs about what he is trying to achieve with all his companies etc. It's a fantastic read and I'd suggest starting from the first page however after reading the below article, it makes a lot of sense for humans to put away their differences/bigotry/religion/small lives and work together for a goal of getting humans to colonise off earth.

https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/08/how-and-why-spacex-will-colonize-mars.html

I cannot put it more easily digestible than the articles. Maybe this post is to raise further awareness of where humans need to go for long term survival/discuss thoughts on the issue etc. Governments need to come together to start pushing this endeavour forward. I mean if the global spending for this is (pick a random number) 1% per year, it should be at least 30 times that.

We need more visionaries like Elon in this day and age. I got to say I'm impressed by what he's trying to achieve/achieved.

So what can I do I hear you ask. Well I'm not sure to be honest but at the very least let's push this message forward to quicken a critical point in human conscious/awareness where humans start to take this seriously.
 
No!

The last thing the universe needs is more humans messing it up. We've already ruined this planet.

Hopefully an alien race will put a stop to us at some point.

The earth should be like a cage for humans.....and a locked one at that.
 
I don't get why there is such a limited vision in respect to getting off Earth and making more use of the solar system at the very least even Mars is a relatively limited target - a lot of resources out there and our level of tech is getting to the point where we are just one good push from having viable launch systems for it and AI, etc. to make deep space exploration and mining, etc. doable.

TheOracle said:
No!

The last thing the universe needs is more humans messing it up. We've already ruined this planet.

Hopefully an alien race will put a stop to us at some point.

The earth should be like a cage for humans.....and a locked one at that.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree as such hah but still.
 
TheOracle said:
No!

The last thing the universe needs is more humans messing it up. We've already ruined this planet.

Hopefully an alien race will put a stop to us at some point.

The earth should be like a cage for humans.....and a locked one at that.
Click to expand...

I concur.

But maybe we can fire off a few million humans into space as a...."test".
 
I guess primarily cost!

When the current 2 biggest superpowers are having a tit-for-tat trade war with each other, imagine them having to agree on funding for this sort of thing.

There's also the fact that our tech is still a long way off making these things as easily/cheapest/efficient as possible, we're making breakthroughs yes, but it takes decades for these prototypes to be perfected.

The human race tends to be quite good at doing what it needs to do to survive. So my view is that when the time comes that the earth is almost no longer habitable, that everyone will pull together to avoid total extinction.
 
I suspect the answer is simple. Politicians would get no personal benefit out of diverting resources to this aim.

Every cause they champion is because it will get them votes, or get them funding from corporate sources, or both.

The general population cares more about how much tax there is on alcohol than whether we can colonise another planet.
 
bazzabear said:
I suspect the answer is simple. Politicians would get no personal benefit out of diverting resources to this aim.

Every cause they champion is because it will get them votes, or get them funding from corporate sources, or both.

The general population cares more about how much tax there is on alcohol than whether we can colonise another planet.
Click to expand...

Not only that, but can you imagine the outcry if part of their campaign was to spend taxpayers money on mars colony projects! You'd hear the usual claims of "that money would be better spent on healthcare", or "think of what good that money would do for school", or "how about providing the homeless with shelter".

Unfortunately the cost is too great for public entities to bear, so the only breakthroughs will really come from private companies that are driving this research.

The real big question however is (probably worth starting another thread for) how do we divide up colonies on the moon/mars? There's currently a space race again to have another crew land on the moon and possibly set up a colony there. You can almost guarantee that if the Chinese make it to the moon first, they'll attempt to colonise it as much as possible, and what's to stop them? They'll say it's unreasonable to divide up the moon/mars based on the number of countries on earth because 99.9% of the countries don't have a viable space program to attempt any sort of colonisation elsewhere.
 
TheOracle said:
No!

The last thing the universe needs is more humans messing it up. We've already ruined this planet.
Click to expand...

Exactly what entity do you think would be offended by us colonising Mars? Do you think there's native life there that will be upset? Do you think the rocks themselves will feel defaced? It's an empty world just waiting for us to liven it up and give purpose.

The dinosaurs are no longer around because they didn't have a Space program.

TheOracle said:
Hopefully an alien race will put a stop to us at some point.
Click to expand...

Could you maybe be a little bit less all-encompassing in your suicidal ideation. If you want out, you can do that any time but some of us find purpose in life. Bit harsh that 7.5bn people should die just because you don't agree life has value.
 
Because people are too short sighted and concerned about raging about pointless things, especially on the Internet. Take this very forum as an example.
 
TheOracle said:
Hopefully an alien race will put a stop to us at some point.
Click to expand...
you really detest the human race so much? you must really struggle to get through the day without killing yourself or others round you.

wolfie138 said:
we should collect all the **********, flat-earthers, SJWs, idiot religious types and vegans and send them to colonise the Sun.
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i'd put keyboard warriors and those who hate the human race on that rocket too.

Semple said:
So my view is that when the time comes that the earth is almost no longer habitable, that everyone will pull together to avoid total extinction.
Click to expand...
i like your faith, though i'm not holding out as much hope as you. while, unlike some other posters, i do not hate the human race - i fear for our ability to 'help ourselves'
 
I dont hate the human race, i think we have some fantastic accomplishments and as a species we have incredible potential.

But we are a plague on this planet, we consume and destroy rather than working with the environment. The planet would be better off without us.

I certainly don't hate the human race, but I can't think of a single thing we have done to benefit the planet that wasn't for our own benefit or to put right some wrong we created. We are a selfish species.

But art, music, written word, i love all the things that make us special. None of that negates the negatives of us being here. I wouldnt like to think we would move on having destroyed our home and learnt nothing from it. I would love to see us out amongst the stars but I also think we should be forced to stay and clean up the mess we have created before we start spreading. Then we can take the lessons learnt with us and begin colonisation rather than destruction.
 
If the Russians had landed on the Moon first, we would be all over the solar system by now. The tech is available to do this relatively inexpensively and on a vast scale.

It is just a little, um, controversial.
 
Isn't long term radiation exposure a huge issue beyond the Earth's atmosphere? hence why we've been slumming it on the ISS in Low Earth Orbit for decades rather than building bases on the moon.
 
There's no point going somewhere that will kill you in short order. We need to perfect robotic exploration, self replicating machines and mass production first.
 
mmj_uk said:
Isn't long term radiation exposure a huge issue beyond the Earth's atmosphere? hence why we've been slumming it on the ISS in Low Earth Orbit for decades rather than building bases on the moon.
Click to expand...

Yes and no - there are ways to avoid the worst of the radiation exposure and materials that can be quite effective - again another area that needs that last little push but not enough interest in doing so.

As above though we are close to the point where we can do a lot of this remotely with robotics and AI with in field production via 3D printing techniques, etc. which would minimise the requirements to put people in places with dangerous exposure to radiation.
 
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