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Re:Elon Musk Publishes Plans for Colonizing Mars by sillysaurus3 on Friday June 16, 2017 @02:24PM (#14571473)
You bet. What are our lives worth? I think spawning a new world is a fine use.

Also, that "lives" figure is counting the descendants of the people that eventually make a life for themselves on Mars. Those descendants won't get a choice, and one could argue it's unethical to put them in that position. So any analysis of how many lives Mars is worth must take this into account. And if it's anywhere near successful, a few million lives is at the low end.

Re:Elon Musk Publishes Plans for Colonizing Mars by irrational on Friday June 16, 2017 @02:49PM (#14571681)
Yeah, I'm still pissed that my ancestors left England for the Americas in the 1600s. I didn't get any say in the matter and it was totally unethical of them to put me in this position. So selfish. Sad.
Re:Elon Musk Publishes Plans for Colonizing Mars by babyrainbow on Friday June 16, 2017 @02:55PM (#14571729)
Did you also count the amount of lives that could be saved here on earth for the same amount of money.

What about their descendants? (by the way, who has a much better chance of surviving here on earth than in the fragile conditions in what ever planet)...

Re:Elon Musk Publishes Plans for Colonizing Mars by ceejayoz on Friday June 16, 2017 @04:15PM (#14572310)
If you're going for raw cost/benefit, there's a good argument to be made for the cost/benefit ratio of being a multi-planet species safe from planet-killing asteroids etc.