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There’s no planet B

aeon.co

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Re: There’s no planet B

#2
> This futuristic dream-like scenario is being sold to us as a real scientific possibility, with billionaires planning to move humanity to Mars in the near future.

As far as I'm aware, no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars or anywhere else; except to dismiss such claims as nonsense. Nobody is "planning" such a thing; let alone for "the near future".

Musk wants there to be a colony on Mars in the near future.

Bezos wants heavy manufacturing in orbit, or in-situ in the asteroid belt.

Re: There’s no planet B

#3

> This futuristic dream-like scenario is being sold to us as a real scientific possibility, with billionaires planning to move humanity to Mars in the near future. As far as I'm aware, no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars or anywhere else; except to dismiss such claims as nonsense. Nobody is "planning" such a thing; let alone for "the near future". Musk wants there to be a colony on M…

[deleted]

Re: There’s no planet B

#4

> This futuristic dream-like scenario is being sold to us as a real scientific possibility, with billionaires planning to move humanity to Mars in the near future. As far as I'm aware, no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars or anywhere else; except to dismiss such claims as nonsense. Nobody is "planning" such a thing; let alone for "the near future". Musk wants there to be a colony on M…

True. But whenever I discuss the climate crisis/future with non-billionaires (i.e. most people I know) there's a significant population of 'don't worry we'll move to mars if it gets too bad'.

I mean, have you been on HN for long?

Re: There’s no planet B

#5

> This futuristic dream-like scenario is being sold to us as a real scientific possibility, with billionaires planning to move humanity to Mars in the near future. As far as I'm aware, no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars or anywhere else; except to dismiss such claims as nonsense. Nobody is "planning" such a thing; let alone for "the near future". Musk wants there to be a colony on M…

> As far as I'm aware, no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars or anywhere else; except to dismiss such claims as nonsense.

Yes, it's even worse than that.

Environmental types want to keep Earth habitable for humans, because Mars as a plan B is infeasible.

> "Why are we doing this?" Musk said at the company's February 2022 Starship progress update. "I think this is an incredibly important thing for the future of life itself ... there's always some chance that something could go wrong on Earth. Dinosaurs are not around anymore!"

So yeah, it's not really that we'll save humanity by moving it to Mars. It's that some people will go to Mars and the rest of us can die out here.

Re: There’s no planet B

#6

> This futuristic dream-like scenario is being sold to us as a real scientific possibility, with billionaires planning to move humanity to Mars in the near future. As far as I'm aware, no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars or anywhere else; except to dismiss such claims as nonsense. Nobody is "planning" such a thing; let alone for "the near future". Musk wants there to be a colony on M…

> no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars

> Musk wants there to be a colony on Mars in the near future.

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/theyre-the-same-picture

Re: There’s no planet B

#7
> The scientific evidence is clear: the only celestial body that can support us is the one we evolved with.

I must have missed the evidence. Exactly what were they?

Additionally, don't stand in the way of those who wish to boldly go where no-one has gone before.

Re: There’s no planet B

#8
post #6

> This futuristic dream-like scenario is being sold to us as a real scientific possibility, with billionaires planning to move humanity to Mars in the near future. As far as I'm aware, no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars or anywhere else; except to dismiss such claims as nonsense. Nobody is "planning" such a thing; let alone for "the near future". Musk wants there to be a colony on M…

> no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars > Musk wants there to be a colony on Mars in the near future. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/theyre-the-same-picture

The difference is between "there's some humans living on mars, perhaps working towards self-sufficiency" and "we're moving everyone on earth to mars"

Re: There’s no planet B

#9

> This futuristic dream-like scenario is being sold to us as a real scientific possibility, with billionaires planning to move humanity to Mars in the near future. As far as I'm aware, no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars or anywhere else; except to dismiss such claims as nonsense. Nobody is "planning" such a thing; let alone for "the near future". Musk wants there to be a colony on M…

I think one problem is that people hear the word colony and they add the term self-sustaining.

on edit: fixed typo.

Re: There’s no planet B

#10

> This futuristic dream-like scenario is being sold to us as a real scientific possibility, with billionaires planning to move humanity to Mars in the near future. As far as I'm aware, no billionaire has ever said anything about "moving humanity" to Mars or anywhere else; except to dismiss such claims as nonsense. Nobody is "planning" such a thing; let alone for "the near future". Musk wants there to be a colony on M…

That's a "motte & bailey" [0] type of argument.

The billionaires talk about "saving humanity" or "making a lifeboat" but when they get questioned, they maneuver the discussion to the motte: "there is no planet B" (or the equivalent). Then, when the attention is elsewhere, back to fantasies of Mars.

[0] - https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Motte_and_bailey

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