A Mars One Finalist Speaks Out On the "Dangerously Flawed" Project

superboj writes Dr Joseph Roche is one of the finalists to go on Mars One's much-hyped mission to the Red Planet. And yet he says he's never had an in-person interview, had to organize his own physical exam, was only tested on prepared questions, and is being encouraged to give more and more money to the group. That's why he's decided to quit.

Comments

Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...

[burtosis]

With the timeframe and technical aspects of the project I'm guessing its either a pyramid scam or the best pitch for a survivor sequel ever. Only without the happy outcome of the original series.

It's NOT a scam, it's a semi-brilliant plan

[pseudorand]

Mars One is most certainly NOT a scam.

Technology has all but eliminated the need for a growing population and over-population is human's biggest problem. We need to eliminate some people, but we still need smart, useful people. If we used criteria like geography, race, religion and ethnic origin to choose who gets eliminated, we're as likely to eliminate too many of the smart people we still need. So what criteria do we use to identify people we want to get rid if?

Mars is a cold, lifeless rock much to far away from earth to make even it's mineral content remotely economical. We are a species who can't even terraform the Gobi, Mohave or Sahara where there's an atmosphere and temperatures are (relative to Mars) reasonable. Anyone who thinks going to mars is anything other than ridiculous meets just the criteria we're looking for. And they'll voluntarily board a ship blasting off to nowhere, somewhat lessening the moral dilemma of the situation. And they're even offering to pay for the whole thing!

Brilliant plan. Or semi-brilliant, because they simply haven't selected nearly enough finalists to address the overpopulation problem. But it's a start.

Didn't Douglas Adam's predict this decades ago?

Re:It's a scam

[gweihir]

Like any good scam, this one offers something that some people want so badly that the little fact that the ones offering it cannot actually deliver gets overlooked. This works always the same, be it a Ponzi-scheme, political campaign promises, magic "health" products, etc. There is even research that shows that a certain percentage of the population (something like 10% or so) has a mental disability, where they lose all reason when something they want is offered to them.