Laurentius
Member
That's a pretty long way for something to go wrong in space, either by way of malfunction or otherwise, setting the whole project back years.
It just sounds so fantastical a priority when we don't even have the technology to make it viable on a mass level that matters for most people here on earth. with so many risks for so little rewards, it feels trite when there are so many other things one could invest that money into.
Even if you colonize mars with a very small encampment, your still looking at being fully dependent on the earth for most things. And if the intent of the project is to preserve humanity in case of some shit hitting the fan, if life here goes bye bye, its just a matter of slow death or fast death being trapped up there.
This is the same slippery slope type argument that can be used to argue against almost any kind of scientific development.