Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Bioterrorism, rogue Nono-tech, rogue AI, hyper-stable authoritarian government.



Pretty sure we would bring all of this baggage with us to Mars.


Bioterrorism strongly depends on the incubation period. Probably safe on Mars. Rogue nanotech - not unless it has AI. (Though gray goo is not considered very realistic nowadays, as we've realized just how hard even regular nanotech is, and how hostile the natural environment is to nano-scale mechanisms.)

Nuclear war is the big one. Mars colonization would be less about preserving human life, per se, and more about preserving an operational duplicate of the peak state of human civilization.


My opinion is that these are just be symptoms of our social mental state. We're the virus. We need to fix ourselves. Maybe space exploration will help us see a little more long term? Hope so.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: