These people will be going there with the sole purpose of making it like that, which they will do every day for the rest of their lives. You are a silly bumhole.
I lived in the desert for five years. I'd rather be dead on earth than alive on Mars.
Allow me Pike.
No water except for the copious amounts frozen in polar ice caps (and that assumes none under the surface which isn't true since there's permafrost which stretches farther than the ice caps).
The Northern ice cap alone is about 56% the size of the Greenland ice sheet. The southern ice cap, despite covering a smaller area of the planets surface is thicker and has about as much ice as the Northern cap. If you melted one of them it would release enough water to cover the entire surface of Mars to a depth of about 11m (about 36 feet for you dirty yanks).
Does it ever get tiring being wrong about Mars TB?
I would definitely do it. There's nowhere left on Earth to explore. Everest is pretty much a tourist destination. The idea of doing something new, pushing humankind's boundaries, is a massive thing. There aren't many people I admire more than pioneers such as Captain Scott.
I think I could die a happy man.
If you want to go, fine. I'll be happy to watch about your exploits. I really do think this will make for excellent TV.
But not wanting to go to a desolate hell scape is totally the reasonable response. Not having the basic elements of humankind my ass. Are you currently exploring all the wonders of Earth? Have you hiked the Pacific Crest Trail? Have you pushed yourself to run a 100 mile ultra marathon? Have you gone to the resource lacking nations of Earth to help build wells? Are you currently pushing the boundaries of science, literature, art? If you're not already doing all this stuff on earth, don't be sitting there acting all highfalutin just because you fetishize space exploration and think that by doing this one nightmarish thing, that this makes you better than all the people accomplishing extraordinary things right here on Earth.
Don't be that guy who doesn't want to do stuff simply because other people have done it before you. YOU still haven't done it. It's like when people stop liking a band because it becomes too mainstream. ugh.
I don't recall anyone calling you an idiot.
And I think it would be more accurate to say we can't make an ocean on Mars right now. Who knows what the future will bring.
I think you're taking things a bit too personally. No one is implying anyone is an idiot for not wanting to go Mars.