Colonization of Mars in 10 years?

[Julius Seeker]

Or a $5.3 billion dollar mission sending these poor bastards to their deaths...



...at the hands of Martians.

http://clapway.com/2015/02/06/student-h ... n-mars123/

[Eric]

...at the hands of Martians.

Only Martians we have to worry about are those that settle and are born there and won't want to bring us on board there when the Earth starts becoming uninhabitable!

(I'm sure that's a sci-fi plot somewhere)

[Don]

Isn't that one where the official Muslim interpretation entity said Muslims are forbidden to go because suicide is forbidden in the Koran? Note that those guys aren't against technology in general!

[kali o.]

Id totally go - but I suspect initial colonizers will totally die off due to some unforseen factor. Still, worth it.

[Oracle]

Isn't that one where the official Muslim interpretation entity said Muslims are forbidden to go because suicide is forbidden in the Koran? Note that those guys aren't against technology in general!

If that's the case, they have a bigger issue than Muslims going on a suicide mission to Mars.

[Julius Seeker]

The thing is there is Quranic Islam and fundamentalist Islam. Fundamentalists of any sort of ideology like to cherry-pick things and use them as excuses to commit atrocities... Even France did it with freedom and democracy during the reign of terror of the late 18th century.

Anyway, here are three people who will potentially be going along, one of them is an Iraqi woman. They all seem a bit like social rejects:
http://www.theguardian.com/news/video/2 ... mars-video

[Replay]

Are they "social rejects" or braver than you are, Julius Seeker?

I knew an astrophysicist once - a beautiful UCLA or USC student, I believe - who found the idea of dying one day by piloting a vessel through a black hole for science absolutely thrilling.

At the time I didn't get it; now I do. We all must die one day; but the quote about finding what you love and letting it kill you is relevant. Good luck to any pioneer who wants to get off this damn rock, really.

[Julius Seeker]

Both =)

[Replay]

Hrm, you've always been a deep thinker; but it's mixed with the oddest intolerance of some people. Isn't it valid to say that the scientific knowledge to be gained from such an endeavor outweighs any "social rejection" issues you might see in these people? Other social rejects become gangbangers and criminals; isn't this a better way?