What is your opinion on a Moon/Mars settlement?

Dalisclock

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I'm in favor of colonization and expansion, within reason. I feel having multiple pockets of humanity is a good plan, in case anything goes completely bonkers here.

I think it's fairly feasible of a goal, though it will be long term, longer scale than most people are willing to actually operate on. The idea of working and funding a project that might not actually bear fruit in their lifetime, is fairly hard to swallow for a lot of people. It's why they never really get behind big changes to their behavior and lifestyle for the purposes of conservation, etc. When you tell them things like "if you keep doing this, things will go to shit in 50 years." they are like "yeah but, I don't give a shit about 50 years from now, I want my Mega Gulp NOW!"

But in concept, I think it's a goal we should have as a species, for growth, advancement, and hopefully enlightenment.
If people were willing to work for the long term, we wouldn't be talking about Global Warming right now because we would have started getting our shit together when this stuff started getting brought up 30 years ago instead of the "Not my problem" so many of us have a tendency to do.
 

happyninja42

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If people were willing to work for the long term, we wouldn't be talking about Global Warming right now because we would have started getting our shit together when this stuff started getting brought up 30 years ago instead of the "Not my problem" so many of us have a tendency to do.
Yep, which is why I said it was hard to swallow for most people. The human brain has difficulty thinking in long scale like that, in regards to their own behavior and actions.

It's really kind of funny, in a depressing way, how far BACK people will think historical shit is important/vital, but they won't look forward 20 damn years. But shit from 1000+ years ago? Super important! *rolls eyes*
 

Secondhand Revenant

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it would be nice to see what's out there. Maybe we would discover new materials and elements that could help with science and industry?
then there is the off chance we discover intelligent life, that would be cool.
Well, in any immediate colonization and spread we're not gonna find any intelligent life, we know what our solar system is like and we're not leaving it with humans any time soon. I don't know a great deal about astronomy, but I am under the impression that they can detect materials and elements etc from pretty far off, and we generally know what stuff is made from in our solar system already? Less sure how likely it is we could find something new to us, but still a bit skeptical. The main draw I think would be just new sources of materials which like, it takes a lot before mining them on another planet is actually a net benefit for the cost that goes into trying to mine it.
 

Drathnoxis

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Well, in any immediate colonization and spread we're not gonna find any intelligent life, we know what our solar system is like and we're not leaving it with humans any time soon. I don't know a great deal about astronomy, but I am under the impression that they can detect materials and elements etc from pretty far off, and we generally know what stuff is made from in our solar system already? Less sure how likely it is we could find something new to us, but still a bit skeptical. The main draw I think would be just new sources of materials which like, it takes a lot before mining them on another planet is actually a net benefit for the cost that goes into trying to mine it.
You don't know that. There could be tribes of fish people living around the geothermal vents on Europa!
 

Secondhand Revenant

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We get to grow and expand, using as many resources as we can choking out other life wherever we find it, until the universe is no longer capable of sustaining life. Like a plague. Self explanatory, really.
Yeh, but I'm thinking rn it'd be more like use up all of Earth's resources to spread out a bit, have a drain of resources from the Earth to other planets, and if Earth goes then the colonies go because lol the notion of it being fully self-sustainable.
 

BrawlMan

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Not going to happen for a long while. All I hope for is that there is no demons waiting for humanity on Mars.
 

Terminal Blue

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We get to grow and expand, using as many resources as we can choking out other life wherever we find it, until the universe is no longer capable of sustaining life. Like a plague. Self explanatory, really.
Well, one of the weird things about our universe is that if life was particularly common out there, there really shouldn't be any unused resources left. The fact that there are suggests that life, for whatever reason, is either very rare, quite different from us, or that the course of technological and sociological process is both extremely rigid and extremely difficult for us to predict.

In a few centuries, assuming human society doesn't collapse completely due to climate change, Earth will probably look very different. The economy will probably be fusion powered, or at least powered by very efficient renewables. Labour intensive sectors like agriculture will likely be automated. Even if the climate is still recovering, effectively infinite energy would mean that resources on earth would be unbelievably plentiful compared to today, enough to support several times the current earth population with very little impact on the remaining ecosystem. This isn't to play down how bad things are now, but I think it's important not to give in to despair just because we live in a pretty awful period of history. Long term, technology will probably solve all of Earth's environmental problems, it's just not going to be Elon Musk doing it.
 

zoey

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I think if it were possible, I personally couldn't live on it happily. I would be like those Martians on the TV serial 'Expanse' who keep yearning for a view of the ocean. I have evolved for life on this planet, so going anywhere else vastly different from Earth, would always be a visit and nothing more.
 

Tiger King

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Well, in any immediate colonization and spread we're not gonna find any intelligent life, we know what our solar system is like and we're not leaving it with humans any time soon. I don't know a great deal about astronomy, but I am under the impression that they can detect materials and elements etc from pretty far off, and we generally know what stuff is made from in our solar system already? Less sure how likely it is we could find something new to us, but still a bit skeptical. The main draw I think would be just new sources of materials which like, it takes a lot before mining them on another planet is actually a net benefit for the cost that goes into trying to mine it.
Apologies for the late reply.
I get what you are saying but who knows what technology will be like in 100 years, I still can't get my head around 3d printing!
I also found this you may find interesting
The universe is so big and different planets under different atmospheres and gravity, surely would produce something other than the usual iron, carbon, silicone etc?
 

Masonicon

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it solves Overpopulation better than world's depopulation even when it probably forces people to eats GMO foods or make them Vegetarian Cannibals
 

happyninja42

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it solves Overpopulation better than world's depopulation even when it probably forces people to eats GMO foods or make them Vegetarian Cannibals
Not sure if you can migrate enough people in a single year to offset the normal birth cycle globally. Depopulation would be easiest by finding a way to actually convince people to have fewer children than the average annual death rate. People die all the time, every second of every day. If you can just reduce the birth rate below that, given a few years and you will see some significant numbers declining.
 
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09philj

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Not much point in establishing a base on the Moon. You could try a long term scientific base but it would more be as a case study of itself rather than a properly useful lab like the ISS.

Mars, we might, might, be able to terraform and colonise outright, but personally I'd rather focus on fixing this planet before we try to get to another one.
 

laggyteabag

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Its obviously going to happen one day, but I highly doubt that I will see anything more than science bases established on either, in my lifetime.

We need to focus on our planet first, instead of thinking about a plan B, where we can shoot off into the stars, and brush our environmental problems under the rug.
 

Thaluikhain

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Mars, we might, might, be able to terraform and colonise outright, but personally I'd rather focus on fixing this planet before we try to get to another one.
Terraforming a planet we currently cant live outside on is going to be just a teensy bit harder than keeping our own planet habitable, yes, but many people seem to miss this point.
 

EvilRoy

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I don't really think there's much value in making colonies on other planets. Fundamentally if you do that then you have to face down all the new challenges of living on another planet, but you also have to deal addressing all the behaviours that lead to this planet being in rough shape as well. Our planet is the way it is because we act the way we act. Before there's any point in moving to another one we have to have a species attitude adjustment - its not even a matter of "fix this one first" its an issue of needing to fix human nature enough to make trying again somewhere else a feasible investment. Maybe we don't need to worry about pumping CO2 into the atmosphere of the moon, but the attitude that lead to this being an issue on earth could easily lead to similarly self-destructive actions in another setting that just happen to take another form.
 

happyninja42

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I don't really think there's much value in making colonies on other planets. Fundamentally if you do that then you have to face down all the new challenges of living on another planet, but you also have to deal addressing all the behaviours that lead to this planet being in rough shape as well. Our planet is the way it is because we act the way we act. Before there's any point in moving to another one we have to have a species attitude adjustment - its not even a matter of "fix this one first" its an issue of needing to fix human nature enough to make trying again somewhere else a feasible investment. Maybe we don't need to worry about pumping CO2 into the atmosphere of the moon, but the attitude that lead to this being an issue on earth could easily lead to similarly self-destructive actions in another setting that just happen to take another form.
While I agree with the "fix our own species' shit ASAP", I do think it's a good idea to not keep our eggs in one basket. For multiple reasons, both human-made, and natural, things could end up fatal for all of us on this planet. Having a second location for humanity, that is self-sustaining and thriving, is just good practice on a species level, in my opinion. Plus, the technologies we develop to facilitate that colony, will very likely be able to be applied here to improve our lives on various levels.
 

Dalisclock

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Its obviously going to happen one day, but I highly doubt that I will see anything more than science bases established on either, in my lifetime.

We need to focus on our planet first, instead of thinking about a plan B, where we can shoot off into the stars, and brush our environmental problems under the rug.
Well, technically it'll be the super rich shooting off to the stars. The vast majority of the rest of us will be left here to rot.

The rest of us can eventually get to live there if we just "work hard enough".
 

The Rogue Wolf

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Humanity needs to get off this rock if it wants to survive, because there's lots of other rocks out there, and one of those rocks inevitably meeting this rock isn't going to be happy fun times.