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Bill Nye: We Are Not Going To Live on Mars, Let Alone Turn It Into Earth (usatoday.com)
pgmrdlm writes: Bill Nye says the idea of Mars colonization and terraforming -- making a planet more Earth-like by modifying its atmosphere -- is science fiction. "This whole idea of terraforming Mars, as respectful as I can be, are you guys high?" Nye said in an interview with USA TODAY. "We can't even take care of this planet where we live, and we're perfectly suited for it, let alone another planet." As for living on Mars permanently: Sorry, Nye says that's not happening either. "People disagree with me on this, and the reason they disagree is because they're wrong," he quipped. The famous science educator and CEO of The Planetary Society appears on National Geographic Channel's series "MARS." While the series explores human beings living on the Red Planet and even mining it, that doesn't mean Nye buys into the idea. For starters, he points to Antarctica, where scientists are stationed even during the harsh winter months but no one lives permanently.
"Nobody goes to Antarctica to raise a family. You don't go there and build a park, there's just no such thing. Nobody's gonna go settle on Mars to raise a family and have generations of Martians," Nye said. "It's not reasonable because it's so cold. And there is hardly any water. There's absolutely no food, and the big thing, I just remind these guys, there's nothing to breathe." Plus living in a dome, then putting on a spacesuit to go outside will get tiring -- fast. "When you leave your dome, you're gonna put on another dome, and I think that will get old pretty quick," he said. "Especially the smell in the spacesuit 00 all the Febreze you can pack, I think it will really help you up there."
"Nobody goes to Antarctica to raise a family. You don't go there and build a park, there's just no such thing. Nobody's gonna go settle on Mars to raise a family and have generations of Martians," Nye said. "It's not reasonable because it's so cold. And there is hardly any water. There's absolutely no food, and the big thing, I just remind these guys, there's nothing to breathe." Plus living in a dome, then putting on a spacesuit to go outside will get tiring -- fast. "When you leave your dome, you're gonna put on another dome, and I think that will get old pretty quick," he said. "Especially the smell in the spacesuit 00 all the Febreze you can pack, I think it will really help you up there."
In the interests of unity ... whatever our positions on various issues might be, can we all just agree that the guy is annoying as heck (on anything but very basic science education)? ;)
Aside from being cold, barren, and lacking an atmosphere... The place is covered in chemicals that are hazardous to humans. How many people would go to Antarctica if the snow was made of perchlorates.
At the moment we're showing great dexterity in de-terraforming Earth.
I think as long as we don't tackle this one we should be at least careful with prospective terraforming projects.
Because.... SPACEFORCE!
(Go ahead and down rank me. I deserve it. Sorry.)
The moon would require roughly 1,000 comets to terraform. Comets would provide both water, oxygen, and momentum (spin). Due to its weaker gravity, the moon would hold onto its atmosphere for tens of thousands of years.
Moving 1,000 comets seems not too far off from our capabilities today. Reaching the moon is definitely possible - we've done it. The only difficulty is social - as far as I know, we haven't pulled off such a multi-generational project.
. . . on the other side of the solar system. Obviously, he is right in the very short term, nobody is moving there today and, likely, not in the next decade or three. Will there be a base on mars in the next century? Maybe. Will we go there to live once we have mastered genetic engineering to adapt to any environment? Duh? We may live on Jupiter. Of course, that might be centuries away, so who gives a fuck?
Right now, with our current level of technology and environmental concern, all we'll do is shit all over Mars over a dozen failed colonization attempts before anyone gets one to stick.
So, like a lot of earthbound colonization?
So sorry dissidents, no revolution from space is coming to foment building your {Libertarian, Socialist, Facist, No Assholes} paradise.
Considering the number of terrestrial political revolutions and upheavals, I find that assertion unlikely too, at least after any kind of self sufficiency is achieved.
(Oh they won't build a paradise, but I can't see nobody trying.)
We will have used up this rock long before we have figured out how to go live somewhere else.
How can we ever hope to colonize the New World, when we can't even live at peace among ourselves here in continental Europe? The climate experiences wild swings, our ships are not reliable, and the land is populated with murderous savages. I know you all really like Queen Isabella, but this is all just fantasy. There may be riches in the New World, but it will never be worth the time or effort to extract them.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Um, are you high? Perhaps the "Science Guy" should learn a little bit about Mars before talking about it. A large portion of the planet has permafrost at or near the surface.
I'm not actually that much of a Mars advocate, and think the simplicity of using water there is overplayed (people talk about it like it's some sort of pure snow that you just pick up and melt, but it's (mostly) a rock-hard toxic brine mixed with sand and clay) - but come on, if you're going to talk about something, learn the basics.
"Define 'interesting'". "Oh God, oh God, we're all gonna die?"
There are plenty of places on Earth that we have not set up shop which are still a trillion times more hospitable than Mars. Go 400 km straight north of Ottawa (which in Canadian terms is pretty well next door) and you are in absolute wilderness. It is great country full of rocks, swamps and lakes but living there is hard. Except for a few valley towns, First Nations reserves and settlements, and some mining centres, people are measured in 1s and 10s per 100 square km. And it is pretty much endless. Now look at Mars - it is worse in every way. No air, no plants, no water and winters that are even colder! There is no economic argument for mining Mars when the potential of most of the Canadian Shield, the Australian Outback, and Siberia has not been explored . Even mining the ocean floor would be easier! What we need is to clean up our act here. Use less stuff, make less of a mess and start to work on the over-population problem in a sensible way (whatever that would be).
"If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
-https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/arthur_c_clarke_100793
It's pretty sad that a guy that used to be the poster-child for science education and the limitless possibilities of the future has become essentially nothing more than a strident leftist mouthpiece.
cf from Bill Nye Saves the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Yes, that's serious. Not satire.
-Styopa
As much as I lament to say this the current Bill Nye that we have now is either a corrupted version or a mere shadow of the guy we had once known. I do not make these statements lightly as I had at once looked to him as a scientific role model of sorts. He is one of the people that set me on the path to being more of a man of science.
However...he has stopped dreaming apparently. Now do not get me wrong the idea of living on Mars "Currently" and I use that word as in currently we may not have the tech to do it. But again however...we have no idea what the future can hold. And it will be a bunch of crazy people that make the first trip to see if it can be done. And probably after more failures than we can count we will get a method that sticks. That is the very essence of science itself, venturing into the unknown for knowledge. And this quest can sometimes mean that it requires a stupid amount of trial and error to get something to work.
As such to just wave his hand away at the idea itself just means that whatever childhood wonder that poor man had possessed has clearly been extinguished.
What an absurd comparison.
First.. Antarctica? People don't live there because of *treaties*.
Can you mine in Antarctica, without the international community stopping you? What about setting up a mining community?
You know there's loads of fish there, yes? What else do the penguins eat?
No, the reason people don't live in Antarctica -- is because there are no jobs, nor the possibility of a job (even self employed) there.
Look at the *North* Pole. There are resources. And there are loads of people living there. For research, for hunting, for fishing, and for mining/resources.
This is more like Mars.
If there is work there (and riches to be made!), people will go. Typically young men, which (according to everything -- including insurance company stats and rates for drivers) are more prone to taking risk. And who will follow? Why, the ladies! Hoping to land a man who struck it rich!
People will go. People travelled to the Yukon, where (guess what) you can't grow food, you have to import everything, and may as well be the South Pole before gold was discovered.
Nye? Make a real comparison. Not one where international treaties prevent resource exploitation.
Cold? Well, you are going to generate power somehow, and most methods generate plenty of heat as a by-product.
Hardly any water? Well, collect some and keep reusing it. Sounds icky? Well, here on Earth we're doing the same thing, except that the water here has been recycled and reused for millions of years. That's even more icky than anything you'll find on Mars.
Absolutely no food? We've just talked about power, heat and water. If you have those three, you can make/grow food.
Nothing to breathe? There's CO2. There are plants (for growing food, see above). Why shouldn't there be oxygen?
Seriously. Dismissing life on Mars and then talking about the things that are among the easiest? What about radiation, (temporary) dependence on supply flighty that take half a year to arrive, or how to build a production infrastructure (so you can build enough domes that taking a walk won't involve donning a space suit)?
With stupid people electing stupid politicians there's a great incentive for some people to move to a place which is a technical meritocracy. Even if it's barren and hostile as Mars. Like populating the Earth by the Golgafrinchams in HHGG, but in reverse. There won't be any telephone sanitisers going there for sure :-)
Antarctica is a pretty poor comparison as to why people don't settle there and make a living (there are these things called treaties, and they are worded in such as way to keep it as pristine as possible, limited personal and camp sizes, no mining, etc...).
He's also wrong about how much frozen water is available because truth be told no one knows for a matter of fact yet (but some argue there is actually a great deal locked away below ground).
There is nothing technically preventing people from living in a self sustained manner (from a constant resupply standpoint) so long as they are able to use the natural resources available on mars and have the energy they need (even if water reclamation is a major concern, it is possible to recycle most of the water needed).
Last but not least, exploration and pushing onward to new vistas is one of our defining traits. Ergo, I argue Bill Nye is no longer human. He was abducted after his tv show in the 90's and replaced with one of the prune people of planet asshole.
Give us a hundred years and maybe we could grow crops in Antarctica. Dinosaurs once roamed Antarctica.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Are we going to go to colonize Mars in the next 10 years? Not likely. 300 years from now? Could be. If we don't blow the planet up in the next decade or two I'll be surprised but anything can happen. Thinking it'll be soon is crazy but thinking it can't happen is not science.
This is just obvious.
"Nobody's gonna go settle on Mars to raise a family and have generations of Martians. It's not reasonable because it's so cold."
--Bill Nye, 2018
Mars is not the place to raise your kids/In fact, it's cold as Hell
--Elton John, 1972
A musician figured this out 46 years ago.
People who live in glass houses shouldn't walk and text.
The immutable question is:
If we don't colonize Mars, the moon, space, or somewhere else other than this rock then what happens to our species when (insert catastrophic event here) hits and we have no backup plan?
We are an apex species, and evolution is not kind to apex species. There is literally an entire planet full of creatures evolving to kill us. It doesn't have to be that either. A giant meteor, nuclear despot, major tectonic event, biological weapon, or an as-yet unknown thing could pound off a big chunk of the population and we are back in the stone age finishing each other off with rocks and sticks.
If not Mars, where?