To Mars and never come back

[Madame Adequate]

>People saying no

How can you be THAT damaged? How can you so thoroughly lack the most basic elements of humankind? How can you be devoid of the need to explore and push boundaries? I... I just can't understand.

That's not it at all.

Mars is just a smurfing trout hole. Why would anyone want to live there? If it a was cool planet with like oceans and trout, or the moon or something--sure.

Well first of all I think climbing Mons Olympus or walking the length of Valles Marineris would be pretty cool regardless of oceans and trout, and I don't see how the Moon is any cooler than Mars is, but I think the main reason I would want to live there is because it is another smurfing planet holy trout how awesome is that.

You can make a civilization, but you can't make a smurfing ocean.

I don't mind if other people want to do this, but yeah, I actually do take offense at being told I'm an idiot for not wanting to.

We can't make an ocean? We destroyed one in twenty years by smurfing accident, and all we need to do with Mars is slam some ice asteroids into the planet. I'm pretty sure we can make one if we wanted to. I don't know what your obsession with oceans is though, I mean if it's the naval angle then you've got spaceships.

Also I guess it'd be fair enough to take offense at being called an idiot. If only I had done so.

>People saying no

How can you be THAT damaged? How can you so thoroughly lack the most basic elements of humankind? How can you be devoid of the need to explore and push boundaries? I... I just can't understand.

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'm having some trouble and perhaps you can help me: Can you show me where I said any of that stuff in my post? Because I'm pretty sure I didn't say a goddamn thing about the wonders of Earth, exploring places on this planet, or pushing myself or the boundaries of art and science. In fact I think there are an enormous number of things down here on Earth that are amazing and if I had the means I'd be out there exploring every last corner of the planet. Heck one of the things I'd love to do is visit the world's most extreme points, like the most northerly inhabited place and the most remote islands and all kinds of things like that. I'd love to drive across America, or even from Nome to Tierra del Fuego. I desperately want to visit ancient sites like Troy and the Great Wall and the Karnak Temple Complex and Petra. The main reasons I'm not doing stuff like that is because of my disability and my lack of financial means. And I won't presume to claim that I'm succeeding but yes, I am actually trying to push the boundaries of literature.

I don't want to do anything 'first' (I won't deny it'd be cool as heck, but I don't want to do it to BE first or anything). I have absolutely no idea where you got that from. All I said was that I don't understand how people could lack the incessant drive to do things like go to Mars. The same drive that makes people explore the wonders of Earth, hike the Pacific Crest Trail, or run a 100 mile ultra-marathon is what makes people want to go to Mars. Pushing the boundaries of science? Hmmm I wonder what one of the primary reasons I "fetishize space travel" is. Maybe it's because the fruits of the space program to date have given us such technological wonders as advancing MRI Scanners, highly efficient solar panels, and little things like modern computers and the infrastructure needed for the Internet. So in short you quite literally listed a bunch of reasons that support my argument because unless you HAVE that drive to explore and understand absolutely none of that trout in your post even matters. I'm not acting "highfalutin", I'm saying that I don't comprehend how the ambition you are citing ends at the boundary of Earth's atmosphere.

But please do continue to be super mad because I consider curiosity and the desire to explore core, indeed defining, aspects of our species and I wonder how people can lack them.