Who says we're going to settle on Mars any time soon anyways? Getting into space already costs loads of money so why would a settler want to make the trip.
Besides, Earth isn't going to be running out of resources any time quick so there isn't a need for this. We've found new and clever ways to push the boundry of our population further and further as time goes on. (Just look at history: We supported more people by centralized farming. We supported even more people when we industrialized. etc.) The myth that we need to relocate because we're running out of resources is just paranoia.
Ecologist Paul R. Ehrlich says population growth is outstripping the earth's resources. Economist Julian L. Simon says that human ingenuity keeps the planet's resources from being depleted in the context of property rights and market prices. In 1980, they put their money where their mouths were and made a bet. Simon offered to let anyone pick any natural resource and any future date, and he bet that the price would decline by that date. If the resource really became scarcer as the world's population grew, he reasoned, then its price should rise over time.
Ehrlich and two associates picked quantities of five metals - chrome, copper, nickel, tin and tungsten - then worth a total of $1,000, and chose a ten-year period. If combined prices of the metals were higher in 1990 than in 1980, Simon agreed to pay the Ehrlich group the difference in cash; if the combined prices were lower, they would pay him the difference. Without ceremony last fall, Ehrlich sent Simon a sheet of calculations and a check for $576.07.
Over the ten-year period, each of the five metals had declined in price when adjusted for inflation.
The drop was so sharp that Simon would have come out slightly ahead even without the adjustment for inflation. Prices of food and most natural resources have been falling for decades because of entrepreneurship, changing consumption patterns and continuing technological improvements. Despite that fact, Ehrlich, who had predicted that "before 1985 mankind will enter a genuine age of scarcity" including food shortages, now says it will happen sometime in the next century.
So it really isn't a good idea to complain about waiting to colonize Mars when it isn't going to happen any time soon anyways.
I thought that I would mention that there are three button mice out there for macs like this nifty little Logitech mouse that's a real cost-effective way of getting 2 more buttons. You MacOS X followers will be interested to know that the scrolly button also works in cocoa applications!
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Who says we're going to settle on Mars any time soon anyways? Getting into space already costs loads of money so why would a settler want to make the trip.
Besides, Earth isn't going to be running out of resources any time quick so there isn't a need for this. We've found new and clever ways to push the boundry of our population further and further as time goes on. (Just look at history: We supported more people by centralized farming. We supported even more people when we industrialized. etc.) The myth that we need to relocate because we're running out of resources is just paranoia.
Ecologist Paul R. Ehrlich says population growth is outstripping the earth's resources. Economist Julian L. Simon says that human ingenuity keeps the planet's resources from being depleted in the context of property rights and market prices. In 1980, they put their money where their mouths were and made a bet. Simon offered to let anyone pick any natural resource and any future date, and he bet that the price would decline by that date. If the resource really became scarcer as the world's population grew, he reasoned, then its price should rise over time.
Ehrlich and two associates picked quantities of five metals - chrome, copper, nickel, tin and tungsten - then worth a total of $1,000, and chose a ten-year period. If combined prices of the metals were higher in 1990 than in 1980, Simon agreed to pay the Ehrlich group the difference in cash; if the combined prices were lower, they would pay him the difference. Without ceremony last fall, Ehrlich sent Simon a sheet of calculations and a check for $576.07.
Over the ten-year period, each of the five metals had declined in price when adjusted for inflation.
The drop was so sharp that Simon would have come out slightly ahead even without the adjustment for inflation. Prices of food and most natural resources have been falling for decades because of entrepreneurship, changing consumption patterns and continuing technological improvements. Despite that fact, Ehrlich, who had predicted that "before 1985 mankind will enter a genuine age of scarcity" including food shortages, now says it will happen sometime in the next century.
So it really isn't a good idea to complain about waiting to colonize Mars when it isn't going to happen any time soon anyways.
I thought that I would mention that there are three button mice out there for macs like this nifty little Logitech mouse that's a real cost-effective way of getting 2 more buttons. You MacOS X followers will be interested to know that the scrolly button also works in cocoa applications!