Mars

[Gawdzilla Sama]

We'd still be living in Olduvai Gorge if we didn't have people willing to take risks.

[The Grand Nudger]

Or, more likely, dead and extinct in it for some other species to one day dig up and thank their lucky stars that it all went wrong for us.

We're all pretty happy that the dinos blinked out after their 190million or so year run of the place. As we sit here on our perch....with what, maybe 8k years under our belts as the undisputed king - it might be prudent to consider how quickly and thoroughly it can all come to an end if we, like they, remain prisoners of this meat grinder. It's not a friendly planet....we do damage to it, but it's hard to argue that it didn't have it comin. That's just life punching back.

[ignoramus]

It's not friendly? Compared to what! lol

It makes me laugh that people are happy to go to Mars but couldn't stand 5 minutes living in Central Australia!
(There's a reason why 95% of the population live on the coastline.)

Central Oz is fucking paradise in comparison! You can even take your helmet off! (but watch those snakes around your feet!)

[The Grand Nudger]

It may be the only show in town, but that doesn't mean it's not a snuff show.  I hear central australia is rough, I'm used to a wetter hell and it's snakes.  Constantly wearing helmets (and masks) is definitely one of the more grinding experiences in life.  

The lure of something like mars, at least for me, is in creating that paradise.  I have a thing for artificial habitats and extreme contrast between spaces.

[fredd bear]

Colonising Mars?

 When?  Why? With whom?  How many?  A breeding population?  A few breeding populations? That takes care of what, 10,000?

May I go? NO?  

Well fuck you.

That's as brutally honest as I can be. 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

One thing that should go is frozen embryos.

[Yonadav]

One thing that should go is frozen embryos.

I'm not so sure. The Chinese recently tried sprouting some seeds on the moon. One actually did sprout, and then died horribly.

[Anomalocaris]

I think in the long run, say 500+ years, human colonization would not involve live humans or even frozen embryos. What good are embryos for the first 20 years anyway?

It will involve databases of DNA and bodies of adult humans mapped at molecular level. These can be stored in compact data storage that takes up next to no room, require next to no power, and have extremely loose temperature and environmental requirements.

When the ship arrives, robotics will prepare the site, mine the necessary raw material, create generations of terraforming machines. When the planet is sufficiently terraformed, robotic fabrication facility will be built which will then assemble full grown,fully function, fully preprogrammed adult live humans from biochemical raw material. These will be totally preprogrammed with all the knowledge, experience, and all other oroduxtsnormally gained through nurture by having all resulting neural pathways directly made in their final form.

They would then be able to immediate function and interact as if they had a whole lifetime of training and preparation behind them.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

One thing that should go is frozen embryos.

I'm not so sure. The Chinese recently tried sprouting some seeds on the moon. One actually did sprout, and then died horribly.

And?

---

I think in the long run, say 500+ years, human colonization would not involve live humans or even frozen embryos.  What good are embryos for the first 20 years anyway?

None, of course. But why that arbitrary deadline?

[The Grand Nudger]

Laying aside that children actually are worth something and that their presence would be required for any successful human colony...there was a fun little sci fi flick not too long ago about copies of adult human beings being leveraged for remote labor offworld.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twuScTcDP_Q