[extropy-chat] MARS: Because it is hard

[Harvey Newstrom]

On Sunday, April 11, 2004, at 01:12 pm, Robert J. Bradbury wrote:

> For the younger list members -- you may have had to
> be there watching the Moon landings (I was 12 at the time)
> to feel this.

I was six years old.  My father worked on the Apollo program.  I grew 
up knowing the astronauts as family friends, seeing the launches 
on-site at NASA, and watching the moon landings live.  Now I live in a 
world 35 years later where manned vehicles can't reach the moon 
anymore.  I really miss the future.

> Note: I am not suggesting that Mars should be colonized.
> It is simply too easy to dismantle once we have robust
> nanotechnology.  But for now exploration is a reasonable
> thing to be doing.

Shouldn't we explore first, before dismantling?  You could be 
destroying the fossil record of an early branch of life in the solar 
system.  I really would hate to see any planet destroyed before it was 
completely explored.

--
Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, CISA, CISM, IAM, IBMCP, GSEC
Certified IS Security Pro, Certified IS Auditor, Certified InfoSec 
Manager,
NSA Certified Assessor, IBM Certified Consultant, SANS Certified GIAC
<HarveyNewstrom.com> <Newstaff.com>