Humans Will Never Colonize Mars

[bayonetbrant]

And personal flying cars....

That's not a lack of technology.  That's a deathly fear of just how shitty people drive and not wanting them in the air over my house when they do.

I will vehemently fight any effort to open up the skies to that level of assholery

[panzerde]

I thought the Germans built a base there during WWII. 

[BanzaiCat]

I thought the Germans built a base there during WWII. 

Stay put. A black helicopter is en route to you.

edit: ninja'd by panzerde 

[Adam]

Now that commercial interests have taken to space flight I think we’ll see a lot more advancement in the next 20 years than the last 50.

I don't disagree with that. I'm not sure what about Mars would make it commercially viable for colonization versus a few manned outposts for research.


Even if there are resources on Mars for commercialization, they could probably be best extracted by robots without the need for colonies.

It would happen more quickly if living space were to become a precious commodity. 

Even if mining robots are the main inhabitants of Mars, people would eventually follow.  Someone has to repair the robot - that repairs the robot - that repairs the robot - that mines the materials.  And the people who repair robots will need goods, which will set up secondary markets and populations.  Indeed, replace "guy who repairs robot" with "gold miner" and you get a repeat of how Northern California became populated. 

It probably won't happen as quickly, but it will eventually happen.  The Matrix's Agent Smith had it somewhat right when he called humanity a virus - we seem compelled to continually spread and propagate.

[Adam]

I thought the Germans built a base there during WWII. 

This is free to watch on Amazon prime.  Instant add to my watch list.

[bbmike]

I thought the Germans built a base there during WWII. 

This is free to watch on Amazon prime.  Instant add to my watch list.

Ha! I'm gonna add it to mine, thanks for the heads up. 

[panzerde]

There's a sequel...

[mirth]

Those movies were not as fun as they should have been.

[panzerde]

Those movies were not as fun as they should have been.

You were clearly not drunk enough when you watched them.

[bayonetbrant]

Those movies were not as fun as they should have been.

You were clearly not drunk enough when you watched them.

The number of times in his life when Mirth has been told he was not "drunk enough" can't take more than one hand to count

[mirth]

I wasn't drunk enough when I went to Origins

[Barthheart]

Hear, hear!

[panzerde]

I wasn't drunk enough when I went to Origins

We could tell, since you didn’t end up covered in curry, or laying at the bottom of an escalator, covered in little airplanes .

[Staggerwing]

What about a toga and an open jar of mustard?

[panzerde]

What about a toga and an open jar of mustard?

That's normal work attire.