ok... after all this huge discussion... how many posts!!! are we talking about something serious? or everyone is writing a piece of a scifi novel?

To a degree, while the company claims they want to accomplish it in ~11 years from now, but their's no guarantees it'll happen, check L. Spiro's first post.

[quote name='L. Spiro' timestamp='1354746815' post='5007550']Since it televised, they also have an obligation to actually send people to Mars. That will be televised as well.

You are of course entirely right, I forgot about that.
[/quote]
yea, because that should be our sole reason to mistrust these people, because Hollywood conviced us that it'll be all fake in some B-rated 70's movie.

No laws, no government, no taxes.

So go ahead and sue them if you aren't sent what you bought. Let's just hope you're not getting too annoying and too expensive, or someone might just turn off the oxygen tap. No laws, you know...
[/quote]
Dude, they are getting money by advertisements/investors, they are not making money from the people selected for training.

[quote name='L. Spiro' timestamp='1354746815' post='5007550'] If I wanted it to be like home, I would stay home. Besides, part of the point is to be a part of history. That means not letting those milestones be given to other people. L. Spiro

Yeah, I listed some honorable milestones there. You have this strange notion that if you need something, then there's going to be someone on Earth to Fedex you a care package every time you need it? Have money, will travel? That's not gonna help much if you get brain cancer or lose a leg. Contract a disease? Need a quick blood transfusion? Immediate medical attention will not come to you. Sorry, but I don't think Mars will be ready for civilians during your entire lifetime. And nobody is gonna fax you a nurse to wipe you arse when you get old and weak. [/quote]

When did he ever say he'd get fedexed something?, perhaps you should double check the usernames of people posting, as you've clearly mixed something up.

they are getting money by advertisements

Someone mentioned earlier that they would trust a government program over a dodgey TV-based venture in regards to safetey.
However, being the cynic that I am, I would probably have more faith in something funded by corporate advertising budgets! Nations can deal with having heroes die for their country. It's damaging to the programme, but the nation can weather that kind of damage.
On the other hand, imagine if the "Coke rocket" explodes while transmitting the final screams of reality TV participants, or the "Pepsi station" broadcasts asphyxiation or explosive decompression... They'd have just paid billions in order to be known as the snuff TV brand. Those advertisers are paying because people will associate their brands with these events. If the events turn out to be horrible, they'll have caused irreparable harm to their brand, which they can't brush off like a nation can.
Because of that, there's just as much (if not more) incentive to ensure the safety of the "astronauts" as in a NASA programme.

So, is it all about making history then?

No but I think I have a way to explain it that can make sense to everyone.

I am very happy working on game engines rather than the games themselves for a number of reasons:
#1: I am creating a foundation off of which others build.
#2: I am motivated by the fact that others will use my code to create their final products, and especially that my code will end up playing an important part in that final product even if no one else can appreciate what and how much that is.
#3: By creating the engine, I have more freedom to explore new technology and new challenges to overcome.


All of these motivational points can be found when thinking about moving to Mars to create a colony. I go there and start creating the foundation for the colony off which others will later build. My foundation will play an important part in the future development on Mars, and freedom to explore and discover, along with new challenges to overcome, are obviously par for the course.
If I were going just to do research and then come back, I would honestly not be interested. Not only does that take away my #1 and #2, it takes away my #4 which does not apply to engine development: Visiting a place just makes me sad when I have to leave. Only by living there can I really be satisfied (assuming I have an interest in that place—many places I would prefer to just visit).
I purposely missed my plane back to America when I visited Thailand because I didn’t want to return back to that same old routine. I wanted to completely refresh my life, and having not yet found a stable job it was a risky move. I am no stranger to taking life-altering risks (as another example, after leaving my first job in Japan finding a new job was not happening. I had enough for one more month of rent and a guaranteed offer in Hong Kong, yet I decided to take the risk and bet all or nothing that I would get a job in that last month), and I am aware of the risks involved in this undertaking.

Then you have the added bonus that everyone dies, but not everyone ends up in history books.
Everyone dies, but not everyone lives…

…on Mars.


In order to stay sane I have had to move to new countries several times, and moving to another planet would be the ultimate refresh. There are no places on this Earth better for me to go than Tokyo so I am pretty-much done refreshing my life as far as Earth goes. But if I am not limited to Earth, the pros for living on Mars far outweigh the cons from my point-of-view.


L. Spiro

I just think this whole thing is too soon, too risky. NASA isn't sending people to Mars. Some Dutch company is.
And their record for sending people/equipment to Mars is ... zero. You might not even survive the trip there.
If you do, you'll have nightmares every night thinking you'll suffocate in your sleep from a lack of air.

That is why they spend 10 years sending ships there.
If at the end of it we are not convinced, we back out and take our $200,000-per-year salaries with us.
If they manage to send more than half of the ships there, we go along with the plan in faith, but still knowing the risks that we may die along the way.

In the end it is still our choices.


L. Spiro

I'd move to one of these, after the asteroid-mining business booms so we can build them:
http://www.theatlant...es-future/1085/
http://settlement.ar...70sArt/art.html

IMO, colonising other planets should come after that, as we'd be in a much better position to start a moon/Mars base once an orbital economy is up and running

Are you're lying if you say that you wouldn't fight for the Duchy of Zeon and ride around in a DOM.

As far as being the first colonist of Mars.... nah. As far as living on Mars once it was habitable and pretty much like Earth (as far as technology and access), then hell yeah.

Never ... I can only imagine the amount of homesickness I'd fell, and the worst thing, I'd know that there'd be nothing I could do to make it easier.

[quote name='szecs' timestamp='1354771341' post='5007642']
So, is it all about making history then?

No but I think I have a way to explain it that can make sense to everyone.

I am very happy working on game engines rather than the games themselves for a number of reasons:
#1: I am creating a foundation off of which others build.
#2: I am motivated by the fact that others will use my code to create their final products, and especially that my code will end up playing an important part in that final product even if no one else can appreciate what and how much that is.
#3: By creating the engine, I have more freedom to explore new technology and new challenges to overcome.


All of these motivational points can be found when thinking about moving to Mars to create a colony. I go there and start creating the foundation for the colony off which others will later build. My foundation will play an important part in the future development on Mars, and freedom to explore and discover, along with new challenges to overcome, are obviously par for the course.
If I were going just to do research and then come back, I would honestly not be interested. Not only does that take away my #1 and #2, it takes away my #4 which does not apply to engine development: Visiting a place just makes me sad when I have to leave. Only by living there can I really be satisfied (assuming I have an interest in that place—many places I would prefer to just visit).
I purposely missed my plane back to America when I visited Thailand because I didn’t want to return back to that same old routine. I wanted to completely refresh my life, and having not yet found a stable job it was a risky move. I am no stranger to taking life-altering risks (as another example, after leaving my first job in Japan finding a new job was not happening. I had enough for one more month of rent and a guaranteed offer in Hong Kong, yet I decided to take the risk and bet all or nothing that I would get a job in that last month), and I am aware of the risks involved in this undertaking.

Then you have the added bonus that everyone dies, but not everyone ends up in history books.
Everyone dies, but not everyone lives…

…on Mars.


In order to stay sane I have had to move to new countries several times, and moving to another planet would be the ultimate refresh. There are no places on this Earth better for me to go than Tokyo so I am pretty-much done refreshing my life as far as Earth goes. But if I am not limited to Earth, the pros for living on Mars far outweigh the cons from my point-of-view.


L. Spiro
[/quote]
I understand. I went to Finland just to be there. I wanted to be a lumberjack or deer shepherd. I could have easily find a well paid job in my home country, I didn't have anything in Finland (no friends, relatives). It didn't work out in Hungary, back to home again.

I think I understand you, I am a bit same, but I want to make history on Earth (adventure, epicness, all that shit) and I prefer the fantasy line to the sci-fi line. But I also feel that this ambition is not really a good thing. And I also think you haven't been to all places on Earth. Maybe you could try to live in a desert. Just to "practice". I'm serious. Why wait for some program? I think it should be doable to do it on your own, maybe you could find other people who would be interested.

L. Spiro, I wish you the best of luck. I'd love to see the endeavour succeed and it'd be cool to claim a brush with fame.

But I will be honest, because you seem to try to be for others,

I didn’t want to return back to that same old routine.
...
In order to stay sane I have had to move to new countries several times,

This doesn't give me hope that you'd be selected. If you're the sort of person that gets tired of the project you're working on or the place you live in, how are you going to do in a place that will effectively limit your movements like a prison would with literally no hope of leaving? At least, find out if that trait is going to be something that works for you as a selling point or if will it work against you.

Even though you would be in an exciting place forging an unprecedented path for future generations, do you think you'd be able to handle an indefinite monotonous routine? The answer has to be, "Yes". Not, "I think so."

Again, I wish you luck and hope you succeed. Even if you're not one of the first 4, the first 50, or 1000 or getting selected at any point would still be historic and worth working towards.

Maybe you could try to live in a desert. Just to "practice". I'm serious. Why wait for some program? I think it should be doable to do it on your own, maybe you could find other people who would be interested.

That is part of the training, actually. Every 2 years each team spends 3 months in the desert and uses a Mars suit to go outside of the camp. The point is of course to test how well you handle being isolated with a small group of people long-term, but just the fact that I would be exploring new territory for myself would be exciting too.

This doesn't give me hope that you'd be selected. If you're the sort of person that gets tired of the project you're working on or the place you live in, how are you going to do in a place that will effectively limit your movements like a prison would with literally no hope of leaving?

I thought about that too, but I am positive it would not be a problem. Basically I considered Tokyo to be my final destination and I have been fine with that. Compared to living on a new planet it was a fairly small change in my life, but I found ways to keep it fresh by doing many different things such as acting on Japanese TV etc.

But I still feel the same gravity, I still see the same moon, my diet only changed a little, etc.
I was fine with such a small change in my life as long as I thought there was nothing above it—no cooler and more exotic place to be.
Likewise I understand that Mars would be my final destination, but the amount of change would be so huge that it would satisfy me for life, and just as with Tokyo I would be happy to stay there as long as I never felt there was a cooler place to be. For me the only better place to be would be aboard a starship like in Star Trek, but that one I seriously doubt will happen in my time, so, just as I once considered Tokyo to be my final destination, I would consider Mars to be my final destination, and be fine with that.


L. Spiro