Nothing says insatiable more than the human footprint on the moon. And now more similar speech. Elon Musk wants to put people on Mars. “Go for it,” we cheer. This planet is getting a bit crowded and increasingly more inhospitable, what with all the pollutants, diseases, and violence. But have you looked at Mars lately? Total Recall, The Martian, Red Planet, Mission to Mars, John Carter, and other such Martian-themed movies aside, Mars is a rough place, even for a visit. There’s the cold, the dust, the months-long dust storms, the carbon dioxide atmosphere, and the possibly inaccessible reserves of water. There’s less protection from radiation and incoming bolides than there is on Earth. But then, you might argue that we visit and stay at our planet’s poles, deserts, and the tops of its tallest mountains. Do we really care if a place is inhospitable? It’s there, right? If it’s there and we can find a way to visit, we go, attempting, and sometimes completing, dangerous journeys.
In the going, however, there’s risk. Many have died in getting to Earth’s poles, mountaintops, and deserts. Imagine the level of risk in going to Mars, a planet that isn’t very much Earth-like. Assuming Musk’s dream reaches fulfillment, what’s after Mars? A trip to Kepler 22B, the exoplanet that appears to be both Earth-like and positioned around a sun-like star? Mars will take months to reach. Kepler 22B will take centuries. You’ve seen the science fiction portrayals: Ships large enough to support primary producers and their human consumers. Radiation-free travel. Centrifugal force as portable gravity. A second, third, and twentieth generation of travelers with little sense of life on Earth.
Assuming we can overcome the physical constraints, can we also overcome the psychological ones? Take a trip to a Mars-like desert on Earth, say Las Vegas. Look how we converted the wilderness! Look how we overcame the difficulties of desert life. We found water, a source of power, and a way to get a constant supply of buffet delicacies. How hard could it be to do the same on Mars? But we do have one largely unresolved problem: Human interactions. We still haven’t solved age-old problems.
We’ve tried, of course.
We’ve invented governments, philosophies, religions, communes, and dictatorships, all in the hopes of achieving something no place can give: Consistent peace among many. Is it because there’s “just never enough.” Of what? Of anything. Find water in a desert, and the next goal is to make a waterpark. Find food, and the next goal is filling buffet tables. No government, philosophy, religion, commune, or dictatorship has ever resolved the problem for many nor resolved the problem over multiple generations.
Satiated? Then you are the exception, but are you being honest? Make any changes to your place? Desire any changes? You know what will happen on Mars. The same things that happen on Earth. We can migrate, but we take—this sounds silly—ourselves with us. This is not an argument for status quo. We have inhabited new “worlds” because there’s “just never enough.” It is an argument that wherever we go—southern Nevada, Mars, or Kepler 22B—we will still think there’s “just never enough.”
In the going, however, there’s risk. Many have died in getting to Earth’s poles, mountaintops, and deserts. Imagine the level of risk in going to Mars, a planet that isn’t very much Earth-like. Assuming Musk’s dream reaches fulfillment, what’s after Mars? A trip to Kepler 22B, the exoplanet that appears to be both Earth-like and positioned around a sun-like star? Mars will take months to reach. Kepler 22B will take centuries. You’ve seen the science fiction portrayals: Ships large enough to support primary producers and their human consumers. Radiation-free travel. Centrifugal force as portable gravity. A second, third, and twentieth generation of travelers with little sense of life on Earth.
Assuming we can overcome the physical constraints, can we also overcome the psychological ones? Take a trip to a Mars-like desert on Earth, say Las Vegas. Look how we converted the wilderness! Look how we overcame the difficulties of desert life. We found water, a source of power, and a way to get a constant supply of buffet delicacies. How hard could it be to do the same on Mars? But we do have one largely unresolved problem: Human interactions. We still haven’t solved age-old problems.
We’ve tried, of course.
We’ve invented governments, philosophies, religions, communes, and dictatorships, all in the hopes of achieving something no place can give: Consistent peace among many. Is it because there’s “just never enough.” Of what? Of anything. Find water in a desert, and the next goal is to make a waterpark. Find food, and the next goal is filling buffet tables. No government, philosophy, religion, commune, or dictatorship has ever resolved the problem for many nor resolved the problem over multiple generations.
Satiated? Then you are the exception, but are you being honest? Make any changes to your place? Desire any changes? You know what will happen on Mars. The same things that happen on Earth. We can migrate, but we take—this sounds silly—ourselves with us. This is not an argument for status quo. We have inhabited new “worlds” because there’s “just never enough.” It is an argument that wherever we go—southern Nevada, Mars, or Kepler 22B—we will still think there’s “just never enough.”
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