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It's odd that any mention of Elon Musk colonizing Mars results in rapturous worship. Other efforts, China in particular, seem to attract scorn. Especially in l

It's odd that any mention of Elon Musk colonizing Mars results in rapturous worship. Other efforts, China in particular, seem to attract scorn. Especially in light of the fact that Elon Musk's original plan was to send a greenhouse with plants to Mars. Perhaps I over-estimate the HN crowd.

patrickk 14y ago
Competition is good. Perhaps NASA will get more funding for Mars missions as a result of this. Everybody wins long-term. It's a shame that it takes a threat of one-upmanship to get people off their asses rather than doing it for the sake of scientific endeavour, but that's human nature.
Jach 14y ago
I see mixed opinions whenever Elon Musk comes up. Perhaps your sample size of comments for both Elon Musk and China is insufficient. Indeed, when you posted your comment in this thread, there were less than 10 other comments.
ibisum 14y ago
Look at China today and tell me you want Mars and the Moon to look like that tomorrow.
deleted 14y ago
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colinplamondon 14y ago
China's a totalitarian government that's fraying at the edges with major scandals, with enormous multi-billion dollar thefts by its ruling elite. That's a little different than Elon Musk. Not all organizations and people are created equally.
danielweber 14y ago
I think the thing most likely to give America a swift kick in the back of their pants about their space program is hearing that China is going to do it first. There's a whole lot to be skeptical about here, but even rumors can kick off a space race.
blhack 14y ago
>Perhaps I over-estimate the HN crowd. Perhaps this has something to do with China's absolutely atrocious record regarding: 1) The environment 2) The rest of the world 3) Human rights -- Is it really that difficult to understand that some of us have the foresight to realize that China's method of interfacing with its environment is not something that we want to see tarnishing a yet-untarnished planet?
- angersock 14y ago
  Think of the verdant fields that could be reduced to red dust! Truly, an environmental catastrophe. They could render the planet uninhabitable. :(
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    Funny, but I think the actual concerns are more along the lines of "What happens if it works?" If they accidentally unleash an Earth origin extremophile, it would have the potential to taint any any life that may already exist on Mars. This hypothetical life on Mars probably isn't of any real use to us, obviously it isn't megafauna or something, but it would be of unspeakable scientific importance. The chance to study live from an independent instance of abiogenesis.. I just can't find the words to describe how important that would be.
    - leot 14y ago
      If we find life on Mars, I'd wager it will end up being evidence for panspermia.
      - jlgreco 14y ago
        That is certainly a possibility. However contamination of Mars will make coming to that conclusion, if the evidence points to it, a great deal harder. (Well, obviously contaminating Mars is itself panspermia, but not really of the interesting sort. A confirmed instance of "natural" panspermia would tell us a lot about what we can expect about the distribution of life throughout the universe.)

patrickk 14y ago

Competition is good. Perhaps NASA will get more funding for Mars missions as a result of this. Everybody wins long-term. It's a shame that it takes a threat of one-upmanship to get people off their asses rather than doing it for the sake of scientific endeavour, but that's human nature.

Jach 14y ago

I see mixed opinions whenever Elon Musk comes up. Perhaps your sample size of comments for both Elon Musk and China is insufficient. Indeed, when you posted your comment in this thread, there were less than 10 other comments.

ibisum 14y ago

Look at China today and tell me you want Mars and the Moon to look like that tomorrow.

deleted 14y ago

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colinplamondon 14y ago

China's a totalitarian government that's fraying at the edges with major scandals, with enormous multi-billion dollar thefts by its ruling elite. That's a little different than Elon Musk. Not all organizations and people are created equally.

danielweber 14y ago

I think the thing most likely to give America a swift kick in the back of their pants about their space program is hearing that China is going to do it first. There's a whole lot to be skeptical about here, but even rumors can kick off a space race.

blhack 14y ago

>Perhaps I over-estimate the HN crowd. Perhaps this has something to do with China's absolutely atrocious record regarding: 1) The environment 2) The rest of the world 3) Human rights -- Is it really that difficult to understand that some of us have the foresight to realize that China's method of interfacing with its environment is not something that we want to see tarnishing a yet-untarnished planet?

angersock 14y ago
Think of the verdant fields that could be reduced to red dust! Truly, an environmental catastrophe. They could render the planet uninhabitable. :(
- jlgreco 14y ago
  Funny, but I think the actual concerns are more along the lines of "What happens if it works?" If they accidentally unleash an Earth origin extremophile, it would have the potential to taint any any life that may already exist on Mars. This hypothetical life on Mars probably isn't of any real use to us, obviously it isn't megafauna or something, but it would be of unspeakable scientific importance. The chance to study live from an independent instance of abiogenesis.. I just can't find the words to describe how important that would be.
  - leot 14y ago
    If we find life on Mars, I'd wager it will end up being evidence for panspermia.
    - jlgreco 14y ago
      That is certainly a possibility. However contamination of Mars will make coming to that conclusion, if the evidence points to it, a great deal harder. (Well, obviously contaminating Mars is itself panspermia, but not really of the interesting sort. A confirmed instance of "natural" panspermia would tell us a lot about what we can expect about the distribution of life throughout the universe.)