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plutherusThis is a comment I posted recently to Slashdot. There was an article about Mars One (for those not familiar with it, it's basically a plan to send a colony to Mars. They're looking for volunteers, and about 200,000 of them signed up. The plan is to choose a few hundred for round one, then after a series of eliminations narrow it down to a couple of dozen who, after about ten years of training and preparation, will be sent to Mars in teams of four over the course of six years.
Of course, I sent in my application.
I was actually surprised about the number of people who derided the whole idea of even trying to get to Mars. Comments like"A bunch of delusional antisocial types who think they're going to hitch a ride on the Millennium Falcon" were typical. My favorites were the ones who (and I can only hear it in the voice of Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons) went on about how the volunteers are "unaware of the realities of space travel." Uh, like, you are so familiar with them yourself? Sorry, unless you're an actual astronaut, you're just as ill-informed as the rest of us, bozo.
Anyway, parts of my comment referenced specific posts (like the ones about about "these people aren't even real explorers, they're just along for the ride" since the volunteers for being the first colonists aren't the people running the show), and such things, but it should be relatively comprehensible.
Oh, yeah, for those not familiar with it, Slashdot is a web site that bills itself "News for Nerds". It doesn't do original articles, just posts links to interesting news items from around the internet. It's a bit like Reddit that way, only with a bit more signal and less noise.
And then there are those of us who are well aware of the risks, and have no illusions about how "exciting" it would be. And have signed up anyway.
I'm someone with close friends, good family, an active social life, a couple of different fulfilling hobbies, and a steady career that I'm 15 years into and 20 years from retirement from.
And I signed up.
I began my application by listing a myriad different ways the mission could fail, from exploding on launch, to losing air on the way there, to crashing into the planet, to starving to death on the surface, to the most likely: the project running out of money before ever leaving the ground. These are not 200,000 delusional people. These are not 200,000 people who think they're signing up for a quick trip on the Millennium Falcon Many, if not most, of these people know what they're getting into, as much as it can be known at this point. And we've signed up, to go to Mars.
The project will probably fail. Simply because most ambitious projects fail. But some succeed. The probability of failure is not a reason not to be ambitious.
But why go? I can't speak for everyone who signed up. But for myself, the answer is simple. We have to go. We have to expand beyond our planet. Here's somebody trying to do something about it. And I can't pass up the opportunity to be part of it. 47 years ago today the words "To boldly go where no man has gone before" were first uttered in public. And no, you don't need to point out that the show was fiction. But the words meant something.
There are always people willing to go new places. And people willing to go with them.
Columbus wasn't alone on his ship to America. Shackleton had to turn down almost 5000 volunteers for his South Pole expedition. Going to Mars is an even bigger deal. I'm not surprised they got 200,000 applicants. And it's OK that you can't imagine wanting to go. I can't imagine *not* wanting to go.
And yeah, the project will likely fail. But even if it does, something will be learned. Something new will be gained. And eventually, someone will use those lessons and succeed. And I'd be glad to be part of one step of that process. That's why I sent in my application.
Of course, I sent in my application.
I was actually surprised about the number of people who derided the whole idea of even trying to get to Mars. Comments like"A bunch of delusional antisocial types who think they're going to hitch a ride on the Millennium Falcon" were typical. My favorites were the ones who (and I can only hear it in the voice of Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons) went on about how the volunteers are "unaware of the realities of space travel." Uh, like, you are so familiar with them yourself? Sorry, unless you're an actual astronaut, you're just as ill-informed as the rest of us, bozo.
Anyway, parts of my comment referenced specific posts (like the ones about about "these people aren't even real explorers, they're just along for the ride" since the volunteers for being the first colonists aren't the people running the show), and such things, but it should be relatively comprehensible.
Oh, yeah, for those not familiar with it, Slashdot is a web site that bills itself "News for Nerds". It doesn't do original articles, just posts links to interesting news items from around the internet. It's a bit like Reddit that way, only with a bit more signal and less noise.
And then there are those of us who are well aware of the risks, and have no illusions about how "exciting" it would be. And have signed up anyway.
I'm someone with close friends, good family, an active social life, a couple of different fulfilling hobbies, and a steady career that I'm 15 years into and 20 years from retirement from.
And I signed up.
I began my application by listing a myriad different ways the mission could fail, from exploding on launch, to losing air on the way there, to crashing into the planet, to starving to death on the surface, to the most likely: the project running out of money before ever leaving the ground. These are not 200,000 delusional people. These are not 200,000 people who think they're signing up for a quick trip on the Millennium Falcon Many, if not most, of these people know what they're getting into, as much as it can be known at this point. And we've signed up, to go to Mars.
The project will probably fail. Simply because most ambitious projects fail. But some succeed. The probability of failure is not a reason not to be ambitious.
But why go? I can't speak for everyone who signed up. But for myself, the answer is simple. We have to go. We have to expand beyond our planet. Here's somebody trying to do something about it. And I can't pass up the opportunity to be part of it. 47 years ago today the words "To boldly go where no man has gone before" were first uttered in public. And no, you don't need to point out that the show was fiction. But the words meant something.
There are always people willing to go new places. And people willing to go with them.
Columbus wasn't alone on his ship to America. Shackleton had to turn down almost 5000 volunteers for his South Pole expedition. Going to Mars is an even bigger deal. I'm not surprised they got 200,000 applicants. And it's OK that you can't imagine wanting to go. I can't imagine *not* wanting to go.
And yeah, the project will likely fail. But even if it does, something will be learned. Something new will be gained. And eventually, someone will use those lessons and succeed. And I'd be glad to be part of one step of that process. That's why I sent in my application.
