News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Elon Musk Publishes Plans for Colonizing Mars. Parent comment

Re:Elon Musk Publishes Plans for Colonizing Mars by grondilu on Friday June 16, 2017 @04:34PM (#14572445)
"Because its there" is the argument of mountain-climbers[1]. That can be an argument for an Apollo-style mission, not for a colonization project.

1. Mallory is famously quoted as having replied to the question "Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?" with the retort "Because it's there", which has been called "the most famous three words in mountaineering". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Elon Musk Publishes Plans for Colonizing Mars by sqeaky on Friday June 16, 2017 @05:39PM (#14572837)
I am well aware of the quote and its use in stopping analysis for a further reason, because it is the reason.

I don't see why there is a threshold between moonshot and mars colonization, it seems arbitrary to me. Could you explain to me the method for determining the threshold of validity in the reasoning behind "Because it's there"?

[ Parent | on HN ]