The HN title is missing the rest of the actual title...<p>"Sorry Nerds, But Colonizing Other Planets Is Not A Good Plan"<p>Man, this article isn't even long enough to be considered a decent middle school book report.<p>In response: We're not trying to "evacuate" Earth for Mars within 100 years, obviously. Human life is important (which is clearly subjective, but doesn't seem that controversial) regardless of the Drake equation.<p>Pure clickbait.<p>Addendum: I find his frequent use of Wikipedia links very amusing.
Maybe there's an error in the authors assumption that we'd seriously try to evacuate the planet. I've always assumed that the point of colonizing Mars is just to have an off-world colony that's also like an ark. At least at first.
The article is so wrong that I don't know where to start...<p>First there is a whole spectrum of people interested on adventure, breaking frontiers, understanding science from outside the conditions on Earth, not just N-E-R-D-S.<p>It reminds me when I was in the US and two very prominent politicians were arguing on TV against each other about who was less of a nerd, have no relationship with them, like they were a pest or something.<p>It was like the stereotype of empty brain US football player who gets all the chicks by downplaying all people smarter than them and caring only about looks.<p>The challenges and adventure of not having water, facing problems like living on Venus clouds, etc.. are exactly the main reasons to go there. Doing what no other person has done ever has lots of advantages for the individuals doing it and human society as a hole.<p>For example when the first vehicles were sent to the moon we were able to discover that most rocks or sand were not affected by erosion or air pressure so they had properties not seen on Earth.
The more I read this the stupider it sounds.<p>"under almost no circumstances does is colonizing another planet the best way to adapt to a problem on earth...<p>...Even if an asteroid were to strike earth it would remain more habitable than mars. For example, consider the asteroid that struck the earth 66 million years ago creating the Chicxulub crater and wiping out 75% of plant and animal species on earth, including the dinosaurs. Well that disaster still left 25% of species that survived, all of whom would die instantly on the surface of Mars."<p>This insinuates that surviving the aftermath of a Chicxulub event is what threatens us - but it isn't the aftermath, it is the event itself.<p>Best quote: "Even though I am not an expert on space, physical sciences, or basically any relevant field, I can tell that this is obviously true. Maybe just it takes an economist to see through the nerd fantasies."<p>LOL!
The real title is « Sorry Nerds, But Colonizing Other Planets Is Not A Good Plan ».<p>I don't know what the article deals with because the first two words put me off.