[extropy-chat] Mars Colonies Coming Soon?

[Joseph Bloch]

I'd hardly call a war that seems to have (granted, it's still early, but 
the trend is there in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Palestine) inaugurated 
a "domino effect" of democratization across the Middle East "useless". I 
would argue that is directly in the interests of the United States and 
the planet as a whole.

Nonetheless, you make a good point about priorities. Perhaps if we 
diverted the money (which is actually closer to $150 billion, not $300 
billion-- see http://costofwar.com, but even that's misleading because 
most of that money would have had to be spent anyway, even if the troops 
were in Kentucky rather than Iraq, as part of normal expenses) from 
something that was truly useless (some of those boondoggle scientific 
studies that routinely make the news, for starters) into space 
development, that would be a good thing...

Joseph

Enhance your body "beyond well" and your mind "beyond normal":
http://www.humanenhancement.com

New Jersey Transhumanist Association:
http://www.goldenfuture.net/njta

Dirk Bruere wrote:

> Ian Goddard wrote:
>
>> --- Dirk Bruere <dirk at neopax.com> wrote:
>>
>>  
>>
>>> Ian Goddard wrote:
>>>
>>>   
>>>
>>>> Here's a National Geographic News article on the
>>>> possible future colonization of Mars. [1] Not
>>>>
>>>>     
>>>
>>> A man on Mars by 1985!
>>> Where is Spiro when you really need him...
>>>   
>>
>>
>>
>> Right, albeit that disparity between previously
>> projected plans and their unfulfillment isn't so much
>> a measure of what was or is possible but of where our
>> priorities have been placed.
>>  
>>
> If the US cannot do it now or within the next 15yrs it's going to be 
> someone else, probably the Chinese.
> Right now the US is at the height of its power with no rivals in sight.
> It won't stay that way.
> Maybe if $300billion had been earmarked for a Mars landing instead of 
> a useless war I'd be more optimistic.
>