I don't know how to respond to that. Anyway, just to play Devils advocate to the people who wouldn't go, let me ask you this. Do you think whatever you do in your life will result in you being remembered in history as much as being one of the first people on mars?
Well, me being knowledgeable of this first hand being deployed to Iraq, twice. Afghanistan, and Korea... Iraq being the worst in 2004, shortly after the start of the war where living conditions were very poor, you mind changes alot. So much so that it is very hard to get back to living in normal society once you return. Your mind right now has been shaped by the way you live. You change the way you live, especially a whole new planet with fake air, 'off' gravity, and a much more limited life. Even within a one year deployment's time rape in the military is high b/c parts of the animal side in your brain begin to take over when some guys are starved of sex and other things like alcohol. Others do crazy things and begin to have no morals or logical thinking. A lot of things happen to your brain when it begins to adapt to being in a 'cage.' Just think of catching a wild animal who has live most of it's life in the wild then you put it in a cage. It shows heavy signs of depression and anger. Animals who have lived in a cage all their life usually remain ok b/c it's all they've known but taking it away from all it's known, putting it in a cage, that's some thing entirely different. The 'animal' instincts kick in when you're brain becomes caged and the changes are very real and the most primitive part of your brain. Even the Discovery Channel said they have 2 main problems that they can only 'hope' will go well. That the ship doesn't get hit by sun rays and space dust on the way there and that the mind's of the crew doesn't 'break.' Most people have never experienced there animal side of their brain to take over becuase they never experienced nothing hard in there life. I don't mean homework, I don't mean a loss in the family or a divorce, I mean some life or death matters. Just look at prisoners, yeah there some psycho's in there but there are some normal people to but it becomes a fight for survival in some of the worst prisons, psycho or not. They do plan on populating the planet and plan on sending more and more people every so many years but only a handful at a time. I think it's excellent that they are trying to do this and if they pull it off it would be awesome. But it's like sending two men on a very small boat to a far off island and hoping for the best. A lot can go wrong and the #1 thing I can imagine would be the human mind. You can't say you would be 'fine' when you never experienced such a thing before, not... even... close. Nobody has. Just look back at the Christopher Columbus days when men came over to populate the 'New World.' A lot of **** went wrong with crew members, ALOT. A lot of that **** wasn't expected to happen and that was very small in scale to this. This is something humans have never even come close to doing. Nothing even close to this scale has been done before and you expect nothing to go wrong, lol. ...And people who said they would go are really lying, did you apply!? do you really want to go and pay the ultimate sacrifice of signing your life away to this thing? Or did you just vote yes to sound like a 'nice' guy who has some 'testicles' and wouldn't mind escaping everything you've known, forever? Have you even done such a thing for a long period of time? I'm sure the majority of people signing up for this thing have no real idea of what to expect and... when the mind begins to take in what is really happening, that's when **** happens. It may sound good at the moment, but will you think the same a month from now, a year from now... every human being deep down has a goal in life, was yours to go to Mars or was it something else? You're to distracted in today's world to really understand who you are and what you really want to do with your life. Even in my one year deployments, every single person came back very changed and you could ask their wives and family. The one year of isolation (not just war) changed the way they think. A little 'life' was taken out of everyone and you watched everyone around you change that you knew very well before deployment. Anyone who has firends or family members that deployed can agree on this but the most changed part of the brain is something no one will really ever see and that 'animal' side of your brain has come to life a little bit and remains active for the rest of your life. We had xbox, tv, and sometimes internet. That is not what I mean. You're living in a cage and that cage is your permanent home. Right now your mind is free, encage the mind, and it will break, everyone's does.
'Or attempted to go to mars.' Let me answer your question with a question, would you go Pacmon? If so, have you signed up? Why not? hmmm.... It's not about 'being remembered in history.' Some people watch to much TV. It's about what you want to do with the rest of your life. If you want to dedicate your only one life to a name in a book that some teenager will read in school and not care b/c they're thinking more about w/e they will do after school, then cool. Or you can join to make it on videos like this were people will make fun of you.
Good to see all that 'news' and 'entertainment' has done for you, and also nice that protecting the species from an extinction event doesn't even bare arguing. Fuelling stations on the way aren't really necessary. It's all about timing the trip when the two planets are nearing each other, also more favourable if Mars is moving towards us and not away. Nuclear power / ion engines will be the source of propulsion over rockets for actual space-faring, which are great because they have an expected operating lifetime, with efficiency which does not decrease unlike other energy sources.
Matty, Matty.... have you signed up? The question is, would you go. You guys are missing that entirely by arguing how important it is for us to go and how cool it is. That's not the question, WOULD YOU GO TO MARS? If yes, then I want to see proof, I want to see some aplication submitted, if not, then what's holding you back? If you're going to argue your case on this question and say you don't sign up yourself, then aren't you a direct protagonist to your direct argument? hmmm A documentary on when NASA thought about sending peps to Mars but knew the Human Mind was the biggest problem (and this wasn't even planned to be a one-way ticket.) It's pretty obvious for the realists.
For the two of you that voted yes, here's what you're getting yourself into: Here's the qualifications. Sign up here. Good luck!
I already answered that in the OP. It's called devils advocate for a reason. I'm asking a question contrary to my own beliefs for the sake of discussion. It is about being remembered in history. Do you think of Buzz Aldrin as just some name in a book? As depressing as this sounds, 99.9% of what people do in their life doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things nor are the things people do remembered by anyone past family. Even if you died within 1 day on Mars you would still be remembered in history for being the first (or one of the first) to step foot on another planet. Even if that is being a name in a text book students are forced to read. People do crazy things to be remembered (that's like the entire point behind why the Guiness record book exists). But, as I said before, I wouldn't go unless I knew I could get back and our level of technology advances to the point that such a trip wouldn't involve such a high risk factor of death. And Fenix this is an open ended discussion about the prospect of going to Mars. No one needs to give you proof of anything. If someone says yes that doesn't necessarily mean they would sign up for this specific event, that's not what I asked. The recent news of sign ups (or old news /eyeroll) is just a framing to kick off discussion.
It's not, it's about what you want to do with your life. Some are doing this b/c of that, others are not. Not everyone wants to go for that reason, but that reason fits into one of the many selected on why you would want to go. Some strongly believe in the need to expand to Mars and would make that life long commitment. Others probably would like to see Mars and would sacrifice everything else to actually walk on another planet. If I wanted to be 'remebered in history' I could sacrifice A LOT LESS to do so brother. It's way more complex than that but that is one of the benefits of doing this. I didn't mean as to demand proof, per say.... I said it in that context to get the people really, deeply thinking about the question in reality context and actually, really and truthfully answer the question unless everyone wants to play pretend here. You answered no b/c you are aware of the serious danger of the situation. The first '4' men are the only ones that will be truly remembered to be the first ones to set foot on Mars. Everyone else are just followers. And what if **** goes wrong, and the second crew will no longer be the 'first' ones to set foot on Mars... what's their motivation to go? **** will go wrong, nothing like this goes down without a hitch.
Found this you would not be completely isolated but contact with earth would be very slow and impracticle at times.
We meant isolated as in no Face to Face interaction besides the other 3 you go there with and eventually maybe more crew members if the operation doesn't get canceled after you've gone. The communication you speak of would just be relaying videos and messages back and forth between long segments of time.
Haha, of course dude. Why? Did you almost think I was serious? I just noticed that this thread was getting serious so I thought a simple joke would lighten things up a bit.
50% I did think you were serious b/c people make some pretty dumb comments... I never meant it to be serious, I just think people took my remarks way to seriously. It's a discussion thread so I gave my opinion and backed it up with logic and challenged others to create a deeper discussion than people just replying with yes or no. My bad...
I actually liked some of the things you had to say, you wrote that real long comment and backed it up with examples from your tours in Iraq. It puts it into perspective that if 1 year changes you that much what would a lifetime do to you?
Yes I did apply. Have you got a problem with that? I'd love to be part of something big and new. It's not like they're just going to pick 24 people randomly, everyone will still be screened thoroughly and carefully to check for problems and mental stability, there will probably be years of training to prepare these people they're not just going to strap you in and wave goodbye. You've thought about it all wrong.