Comment Re:That Analogy Falls Apart (Score 1) 917
But you know people would volunteer nonetheless.
Yeah, and *none* of these being even remotely qualified or even sane enough for the job. Who's willing to throw his very existence away for a few weeks or months on Mars just has no idea what he's actually talking about and very probably has many other illusions as well.
I disagree. Especially in this age of "reality" TV and celebrities famous for being famous, I suspect there are plenty of qualified scientists and engineers who would be happy to gain a place in the history books as the first earth people to walk on another planet.
I'm not saying I'm one of them, but think about it: actually being on another planet! Can you really tell me that's not something you would be interested in? Yes, the price (never returning to earth, living the rest of your days in hardship, dying on a barren world) may be too steep for you or me, but I think it's unfair to judge someone as automatically mentally incompetent just because their priorities are different from yours.
(OK, maybe leading with reality TV stars wasn't the best idea for this sanity defense.)
It is also unfair to say their deaths would be for nothing. There would need to be major technological advances to get people that far, even without bringing them home. Plus: humans! On another planet! That is literally the stuff of science fiction.
If we're smart, the U.S. will partner with the rest of the planet, to avoid any "claiming" of Mars for any one country. Can't you just imagine another country with different priorities sending a single human on a one-way trip, just to plant a flag and lay claim to the entire planet and all minerals and materials contained therein before they died? Even a less-technologically advanced country could do that relatively quickly, while we're wasting time figuring out how to bring our guys home.
The space race is on! Again!