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A comment on Why Not Mars. Parent comment

Re:Why Not Mars by ly3xqhl8g9 on Monday January 02, 2023 @02:02AM (#34215184)
We have 8.x billion people on Terra, an environment with circa 4.x billion years of evolution for eukaryotes to thrive, and still we have about 1.x billion people undernourished with around 20,000 people dying of hunger each day [1], not to mention the other eukaryotes.

Our species has proven again and again it's inability to care for the extended tree of life, heck, we still believe there are sharp and crisp delimitations between our own species (the blacks, the Jews, etc.). Why then this gaslighting about "we must save civilization"? Just because some of the billionaires, those who our system lets to own the world, are scared of dying? Hey, rich guy [2], got news for you: we don't have a civilization, we are barely a bunch of pseudo-evolved tribes, infighting for trivial resources and perceived boundaries.

Let's figure out how to have a civilization, then, maybe, we can try to save it.

However, as it stands, "we must save civilization" is doublespeak for "you, hoi polloi, go and build an Elysium for me and my friends", just as the Qataris said to the slaves to build them stadiums [3]. And if you own less than $30 million [4], don't kid yourself, you are still hoi polloi.

[1] https://reliefweb.int/report/world/humanitarian-organisation...

[2] There are no rich gals https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/012715/5-ric...

[3] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2016/03/qatar-wo...

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_high-net-worth_individua...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why Not Mars by mlindner on Monday January 02, 2023 @01:19PM (#34221484)
> However, as it stands, "we must save civilization" is doublespeak for "you, hoi polloi, go and build an Elysium for me and my friends", just as the Qataris said to the slaves to build them stadiums [3]. And if you own less than $30 million [4], don't kid yourself, you are still hoi polloi.

This is farcical on the face of it. There is no situation where the "hoi polloi" are going to be building colonies. This is a creation of science fiction with no basis on reality. You need fundamentally significant amounts of money to leave the planet. We're talking hundreds of thousands per person. Some rich person is not going to ship off people who are unwilling or don't want to go..

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why Not Mars by ly3xqhl8g9 on Monday January 02, 2023 @05:11PM (#34224391)
Id quod plerumque accidit [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why Not Mars by mlindner on Monday January 02, 2023 @05:15PM (#34224432)
Where are you going to find the legal system under which these "slaves" will exist? This is silly. No one anywhere is advocating for "slavery on Mars". You're just arguing in bad faith to create straw men for you to burn down.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why Not Mars by ly3xqhl8g9 on Monday January 02, 2023 @05:33PM (#34224634)
How about in the US? "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States" [1].

However, if you are willing to regress the definition of slave to a 19th century understanding: are you being paid a wage to sell your time to build an Elysium for someone else?, do you have to wake up at a certain hour to go to work?, do you have to eat/urinate/defecate at certain hours provided by your work environment?, do you have to sleep at a certain hour to prepare for work? You, me, we are the slaves already, only the whip is different. But if you own over $30 million, it's fine, you are on the internet, nobody knows you are a dog here.

[1] https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/13th-amendment

[ Parent | on HN ]