Comment Re:Why do we do these things? (Score 1) 109
Whilst the uniqueness of the experience would be sure to exhilarate for a while, after a time I imagine that space travel would gall.
How long would that take? If it takes longer than a human lifetime for the involved parties, then there's not a problem.
I hope we don't progress to a mars colony, not matter how brief. Because I think that the reality of the experience cannot be covered up: unlike the apollo mission which was a few days of adrenaline, and then back home, travelling to Mars will give people time to reflect on what they left behind. It will be an agonising experience to watch those idealists implode before our eyes, as the truth of it sinks in. Mars is boring, there's no exciting pioneering life, no fame or fortune. Just drudgery and the fear that food supplies will run out and the water purifier will break. Eventually something goes wrong and you're dead. Brutal and uncompromised by happy hollywood endings.
So why would it be like that? I find the rationalizing behind this argument intriguing. Where else would we "hope" that someone doesn't do something merely because they might not like it?
I think seeing that will set back not just manned attempts but the important stuff, the scientific missions.
You forgot the scare quotes on "important". It won't matter to the navel gazers, if Mars exists or not. A lot of them probably never even saw the place in the sky. The people for whom that science will matter will be the people doing stuff on Mars, not necessarily in person, but not necessarily not in person.