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Ray Bradbury's Reasons to Go to Mars

An anonymous reader writes "Ray Bradbury's testimony to the Presidential blue-ribbon Commission, 'Moon to Mars and Beyond', covers a range of rather optimistic space-related topics, including why three Italians should be the first on Mars. But at age 83, Bradbury's next book, entitled 'Too Soon From the Cave, Too Far From the Stars' seems to set an overall vision that this is an in-between generation caught between the brutal and primitive and the advanced."

13 of 387 comments (clear)

  1. Braces self by XMyth · · Score: 3, Funny

    For all the Martian Chronicles related jokes....too bad I couldn't think of any.

  2. Why? by robpoe · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why go to Mars, except maybe to have someone ON SITE to push the "RESET" button??

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    = Grow a brain...
  3. Cave life by spellraiser · · Score: 4, Funny

    'Too Soon From the Cave, Too Far From the Stars'

    Yeah, much too soon. One minute you're an ape triumphantly hurtling a bone into the air under the theme of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra', and next thing you know, the bone turns into an orbiting satellite in the year 2001. Also, you've become human and there's this weird monolith on the moon.

    Talk about culture shock ...

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    I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
  4. Re:We have to go... by meringuoid · · Score: 5, Funny
    Nothing will stop man from seeking adventures and knowledge.

    Except a largish cometary impact.

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  5. Quote from Ray Bradbury by Woogiemonger · · Score: 4, Funny

    "If we can find any living relatives of Columbus, and Caboto, and Verrazzano - wouldn't that be remarkable if we could send them on the first manned rocket to Mars."

    Descendants of Columbus?! Oh sure, so we're going to send out another white man to treat the native Martians as slaves. Great idea!

  6. Re:Who to send out there by Theresa1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    yes poets, management consultants, hairdressers, telephone sanitisers. Send the lot of em.

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  7. Re:Why Ray Bradbury? by Minwee · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are you saying that writing fiction and working for the government are somehow different?

  8. Re:Too Soon From The Cave by DChristensen · · Score: 3, Funny

    Osama, that you?

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    --
    Mac OS X--Unix without the assholes^Whassles.

  9. Re:Beat The Chinese by A.+Pizmo+Clam · · Score: 3, Funny

    If the Chicoms make it to Mars first, American industry is doomed.

    Our IT companies are losing out to cheap foreign competitors from countries that are poor but have highly-educated workforces. A newly colonized Mars would be extremely poor (no natural resources!) and everyone who lived there would be a MENSA-level scientist!. There's no way a patriotic John Q. MSCE could compete with that kind of competition competitively.

    Also, if some Chicom "hacker" outfit wanted to publish stolen source code or red-blooded American credit card passwords over the World Wide Web, a Mars-based broadcasting rig would be unreachable by current missile technology!!!

    Our national security and livelihoods are in danger. We must colonize Mars immediately and render it a Chicom-free zone.

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    Thank you for your support.
  10. Re:We have to go... by Tenebrious1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nothing will stop man from seeking adventures and knowledge.

    Nothing, perhaps, except marriage.

    "Honey, I'm going out to explore Mars."
    "Not before you clean out the garage.

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    -- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
  11. Re:We have to go... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Book Dealer: I hear you have 1st edition Fahrenheit 451 you wish to sell.

    Seller: Yes. It's in great condition

    Book Dealer: Well, there's not much call for Bradburys... they generally aren't very rare.

    Seller: But mine is UNSIGNED!

    Dealer: (drooling) Would you take a cashier's checks? I don't have that kind of cash on hand!

  12. Re:I like the way Commandar Sinclair put it. by roman_mir · · Score: 3, Funny

    All of this was for nothing anyway, in about 10^32 years from now all of the universe protons will decay and everything will disappear anyway.

  13. Must... Resist... Obvious... Jokes... by CrystalFalcon · · Score: 4, Funny
    ...ARGH! I can't stop it coming!

    including why three Italians should be the first on Mars
    • They need to set up the pizza parlor for when others land, so we'll have some decent place to eat.

    • It's pretty much the only way to safeguard the future of the Italian language.

    • These particular three individuals are just fleeing from the Italian Mob in a new creative way.

    • Italian culture involves measuring large distances as the required number of spaghetti straws. They are also bringing a very large kettle for the feast afterwards.

    • They were banished from Italy for speaking calmly and not even gesticulating in the slightest while asking for some everyday item, like a subway ticket.

    • They are ordinary Italian drivers who just need a little extra room for parking maneouvers.