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A comment on Domes are overrated. Parent comment

Re:Domes are overrated by lovemenot on Friday November 29, 2019 @09:52PM (#21668226)
In support of your parent, I am thinking of the Polynesians. Arguably the most successful colonists ever. They drifted to previously uninhabited islands. Likely most attempts would have resulted in death in open ocean.
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Re:Domes are overrated by jacobwilliamroy on Saturday November 30, 2019 @02:36PM (#21671752)
They didn't drift. They knew how to sail. How to transport live fruit trees over vast distances. The history of the pacific is really long and complicated.
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Re:Domes are overrated by lovemenot on Tuesday December 03, 2019 @07:39AM (#21691801)
I don't completely disagree.

There would have been indications in wave pattern. And they knew how to read these, as well as meteorological hints and knowledge of tides.

Nevertheless, in the context of this discussion, landing up on an inhabited island thousands of kilometres from here is a huge shot in the dark, and most hopeful colonists would have missed.

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Re:Domes are overrated by echaozh on Tuesday December 03, 2019 @08:33PM (#21698824)
Landing up on an inhabited island thousands of kilometers from here is a huge shot in the dark, but you know you got air and fish, and you can survive even if your seeds don't grow, and you know you can leave if the island is not ideal for survival.

But on Mars, you don't have proper air and you don't have wild life for food. And you cannot easily leave for other better places.

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Re:Domes are overrated by grabbalacious on Sunday December 08, 2019 @10:01AM (#21736170)
>But on Mars, you don't have proper air and you don't have wild life for food.

Good point. It would make sense to send robots in advance to manufacture huge stockpiles of air and food. Which is of course beyond present technology.

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Re:Domes are overrated by lovemenot on Wednesday December 04, 2019 @02:32AM (#21700307)
I meant it's most unlikely to successfully reach said island. There'd have been many more who'd tried and died trying.

Once the location is established, regular trade becomes much more feasible.

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Re:Domes are overrated by grabbalacious on Sunday December 08, 2019 @09:59AM (#21736158)
Yes, there's no guarantee of finding a destination. That's one form of idiocy. Another, from today's point of view, is killing all the inhabitants (if any) upon arrival.
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