Comments on: Roman Mars on One-Way Trip to Mars http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Fri, 24 May 2013 07:24:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: otaking241 http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926721 otaking241 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926721 if we don't, China will. I think this should be our mantra for the new era. if we don’t, China will.

I think this should be our mantra for the new era.

]]> By: SAMO1415 http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-925969 SAMO1415 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-925969 First!??? Does this mean I get to go? First!??? Does this mean I get to go?

]]> By: Stefan Jones http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926234 Stefan Jones Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926234 Do these folks really know what they're getting into? The trancendentalist glory that Anon #10 refers to will quickly fade. The "settlers" are going to spend the rest of their lives in cramped, dank underground shelters with very limited diets, limited medical care, and limited social options. Comparisons to frontier life on Earth are romantic folly. The settlers won't be carving out a new nation with the sweat of their brow; they'll be utterly dependent on fallible machines for their lives and ability work and move about. Any improvement in their lot will mean, for a very, very long time, us here on Earth sending them more machines and raw materials. (Magical nanotech assemblers are looking more and more like jet packs, flying cars, and fusion power.) Do these folks really know what they’re getting into?

The trancendentalist glory that Anon #10 refers to will quickly fade.

The “settlers” are going to spend the rest of their lives in cramped, dank underground shelters with very limited diets, limited medical care, and limited social options.

Comparisons to frontier life on Earth are romantic folly. The settlers won’t be carving out a new nation with the sweat of their brow; they’ll be utterly dependent on fallible machines for their lives and ability work and move about.

Any improvement in their lot will mean, for a very, very long time, us here on Earth sending them more machines and raw materials. (Magical nanotech assemblers are looking more and more like jet packs, flying cars, and fusion power.)

]]> By: edgore http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-925982 edgore Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-925982 No, it means that like the hairdressers and the telephone handset sanitizers, you *have* to go. No, it means that like the hairdressers and the telephone handset sanitizers, you *have* to go.

]]> By: teapot http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926517 teapot Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926517 Can't we just send all the assholes to Mars against their will and then have this lovely, green planet for us happy mutants to start a new civilisation based on steampunk and things we are supposed to just look at? Thats what <i>I</i> vote for! Can’t we just send all the assholes to Mars against their will and then have this lovely, green planet for us happy mutants to start a new civilisation based on steampunk and things we are supposed to just look at?

Thats what I vote for!

]]> By: bob d http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926011 bob d Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926011 I hope their willingness to go isn't based on assumptions about subsequent missions to Mars, because the history of NASA after the Apollo program should have disabused them of those. I hope their willingness to go isn’t based on assumptions about subsequent missions to Mars, because the history of NASA after the Apollo program should have disabused them of those.

]]> By: bob d http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926269 bob d Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926269 "Magical nanotech assemblers are looking more and more like jet packs, flying cars, and fusion power." Nah, jetpacks, flying cars and fusion power are at least *possible,* even if practical issues prevent them from being ubiquitous or even built. Nanotech assemblers, on the other hand... Sci-fi author Charlie Stross has a nice analysis of the idea of space as "frontier" where he completely demolishes the whole idea: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the-high-frontier-redux.html “Magical nanotech assemblers are looking more and more like jet packs, flying cars, and fusion power.”
Nah, jetpacks, flying cars and fusion power are at least *possible,* even if practical issues prevent them from being ubiquitous or even built. Nanotech assemblers, on the other hand…

Sci-fi author Charlie Stross has a nice analysis of the idea of space as “frontier” where he completely demolishes the whole idea:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the-high-frontier-redux.html

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926525 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926525 Not far enough away Not far enough away

]]> By: standingstill http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926015 standingstill Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926015 Yay, Mr. Mars! You got BoingBoinged! I'm putting my vote in for you to be the next guest blogger :) Yay, Mr. Mars! You got BoingBoinged! I’m putting my vote in for you to be the next guest blogger :)

]]> By: Ned613 http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926017 Ned613 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926017 one-way trip to mars means no ticker tape parade. count me out. one-way trip to mars means no ticker tape parade. count me out.

]]> By: Glenn Fleishman http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926019 Glenn Fleishman Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926019 He is awesome. He is awesome.

]]> By: Donald Petersen http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-927299 Donald Petersen Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-927299 <blockquote>Since I would only go for the favors of gorgeous adoring babes when I back then I guess I'd have to say no.</blockquote> What will be truly amusing to see is the usage of this pickup line in bars around the world: "I'm shippin' out to Mars in the mornin', darlin'. Looks like I ain't never comin' back. All for the good of humanity, y'know. Final Frontier and so forth. Where no man has gone before and whatnot." "Didn't the Mars Mission blast off last Tuesday?" "Naw, that'un was just a decoy, get the Chinese off our backs. The <b>real</b> McCoy takes off tomorrow. And wouldn't you like to grab y'self a piece of Heroic History right now, before it's gone for good?"

Since I would only go for the favors of gorgeous adoring babes when I back then I guess I’d have to say no.

What will be truly amusing to see is the usage of this pickup line in bars around the world:

“I’m shippin’ out to Mars in the mornin’, darlin’. Looks like I ain’t never comin’ back. All for the good of humanity, y’know. Final Frontier and so forth. Where no man has gone before and whatnot.”

“Didn’t the Mars Mission blast off last Tuesday?”

“Naw, that’un was just a decoy, get the Chinese off our backs. The real McCoy takes off tomorrow. And wouldn’t you like to grab y’self a piece of Heroic History right now, before it’s gone for good?”

]]> By: imag http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926278 imag Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926278 The first people on Mars will be Chinese. I'd put fifty bucks on it. The first people on Mars will be Chinese. I’d put fifty bucks on it.

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926033 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926033 Since I would only go for the favors of gorgeous adoring babes when I back then I guess I'd have to say no. Since I would only go for the favors of gorgeous adoring babes when I back then I guess I’d have to say no.

]]> By: Ned613 http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926064 Ned613 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926064 Wait. Just thought of a work-around. Hold the ticker tape parade <i>before</i> the mission. [Mental note: call NASA] Wait. Just thought of a work-around. Hold the ticker tape parade before the mission.

[Mental note: call NASA]

]]> By: morgonmae http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926102 morgonmae Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926102 Those people haven't seen The Flaming Lips' "Christmas on Mars." Those people haven’t seen The Flaming Lips’ “Christmas on Mars.”

]]> By: edgore http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926168 edgore Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926168 [Mental note: call NASA] No, no, no you are doing it wrong - [Mental note: File process patent for a method of dealing with pre-emptive celebration. Then sue NASA when they do it] [Mental note: call NASA]

No, no, no you are doing it wrong – [Mental note: File process patent for a method of dealing with pre-emptive celebration. Then sue NASA when they do it]

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/roman-mars-on-one-wa.html#comment-926199 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-926199 The people to select are those that know they will not live much longer but can still be active for the last few years they are alive, what greater gift to give to the terminal ill than immortality in reaching the heavens. The people to select are those that know they will not live much longer but can still be active for the last few years they are alive, what greater gift to give to the terminal ill than immortality in reaching the heavens.

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