Is it really necessary to send humans to those places just to get the knock-on benefits? Couldn’t we do those things directly, without going there?
It seems to me that, today, those who have the money to spend on these endeavors would only do so if there were perceived short-term benefits to themselves. That means they plan to exploit the resources, or increase their own power somehow.
I know the good engineers that make this happen are doing it for the challenge and in the pursuit of knowledge, and I know that’s why we poors support it, but that doesn’t “pay the bills.” What is the motivation behind the money? Why are they really doing this?
Fuck off. You and Elon both. You’re just making assumptions about me now.
Right, you don’t prop up con men, just their ideas.
There is no merit to going to Mars other than to distract people from real issues. I have no doubt that at some point, if humanity survives the upcoming centuries, we will put a research outpost on Mars. I do however very much doubt that we’d build a large, thriving colony there even millennia in the future, for the same reason that we don’t go building cities on the bottom of the ocean, in the middle of the desert or at the peak of mountains. There’s just no reason to do so.
That’s your personal very subjective opinion, which many other comments in here have already addressed, so I’m not going to bother.
Looks at Las Vegas, La Paz, and so many others.
Lol.