Quote:
Originally Posted by Phoenix
Some people are pure animals I agree. That is not the case with everyone. Those who would choose to go to Mars are a special breed of person. Will there be a few issues? Surely. However they are not going up there to die in a month. they are going up there to spend their lives in the pursuit of something great.
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I'm not saying its not a good thing to attempt. Nor am i saying its not important for mankind to try to figure out. I'm saying that the likely outcome initially will be a tragic, Lord of the Flies scenario... and each time, lessons will be learned and eventually it won't be a problem. I would personally imagine this only happening successfully as a military operation, with military discipline and a military hierarchy of leadership, rules, codes of conduct, courts etc. I just don't see a bunch of hopeful dreamers and do gooders pulling this off.
I just happened to read the thread and imagined how quickly people go haywire emotionally and mentally. Everyone pairs up with a mate.. .some of them don't get along, one becomes obsessed with his, she's freaked out by his behavior, she cheats on him, he starts getting hostile and violent etc etc etc. I mean literally there are countless things that normal people can be affected by which will push them into unspeakable acts, which will divide groups, make people jealous, suspicious, damage relationships beyond repair etc.. and that happen without the added stress of the Mars scenario. There is no possible way to even weigh the sheer mental stress of being trapped on another planet and never being able to go home, go to the beach, ride a bike, go for a walk, call grandma or whatever and then being trapped inside with a tiny group of people as they all start to wear on each other. Prisons are the closest thing to that but the fact is that most prisons are full of sociopaths and psychopaths and people with serious emotional problems to begin with. So they make for a poor study group.
I spent a huge part of my life commercial fishing. 5 guys on a 125' boat, in the middle of the Bering Sea can become homicidal towards each other very quickly. Shockingly quick. You get exhausted and stressed and tired... maybe things are going poorly and its nothing but problem after problem... you haven't slept for 2 days, you're wet for 2 days, cold, hungry etc and then maybe then someone does something that almost gets everyone killed. You seriously start thinking about disappearing that person and your mind quickly goes to disturbingly dark places. But in that scenario, you can also get off the boat. You can fly home or to Anchorage. You can get off the boat and call your family and feel better or whatever. In the Mars scenario... who knows. You're trapped in a small facility - a small shared facility until you die. There is no way at all to undo the decision you made for a very long time, if ever. That in itself, is a very harsh reality to adjust to for the toughest of people without going batshit crazy very quickly. People who crave adventure also don't like to sit in one place for very long ;)