I truly believe that bazinga billionaires and their sycophantic cultists generally have an unexamined belief, derived from their treats, that just landing on Mars is a "science victory" with a Hans Zimmer BWAAAAAAAAAM treatment and a credit roll that must be done for its own sake.
This is what I tell people. Like even the most climate change addled earth is immensely more habitable for humans than Mars is.
If we solve our problems here... Ya know by ending capitalism... Then we can start doing truly badass humanity spanning achievements. Terra forming mars? Why not give it a go once we've got everyone fed and housed here. Surely it'd be a cool project. But as a solution? Entirely foolish.
I'm reading the book A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought this Through? Sheesh some things I haven't considered.
Also if humanity actually does become interplanetary. What kind of precedent do we set with how we take care of our home planet? It creates a culture of hyperdisposability. Consoom all the resources on one planet, then hop off its carcass to the next.
Then we won’t exactly be “interplanetary” then, just us on one planet we haven’t ruined yet. And I’m saying this while humoring Elons initial delusions.
it's honestly overwhelming sometimes. i need to create a keyword cheat sheet because you only get a quick menu for 20 (?) of your most frequently used ones