The Mistake of Mars

People At The Centre - 'Mars Attacks?' Theme

The nucleus of the ‘space race' has shifted from exploration to habitation, with no meaningful volume of resources repatriated to Earth – just souvenirs, but is this really to 'cater for the growth of the human race'?

There seem to be two flaws in this objective, overlooked in the excitement for ‘the new frontier’. The first is expansion of territory – in this case ‘universally’.

Human exploration of our planet was predominantly terrestrial, on foot, then by animal transport or vehicle. Since we've been airborne, terrains have been canvassed for opportunities, either for living or mining options. Observation from the stars with satellite imaging has closed in on the last of unchartered inches of our planet. We explore, we exploit, and once opportunities are exhausted, we search for a new frontier. Unstoppable. Parasitic. And now Mars is firmly in our sights.

Throughout Earth’s history when one country colonises another (inhabited or otherwise), resources are exploited, for consumption and the accumulation of wealth. Certain pundits say ‘this time we’ll get it right!’– while we knowingly and intentionally warm the planet and change its atmosphere to suit our purposes.

Conceptually, whichever country first colonises another planet will be the incumbent, self-regulating governing body – its singular global authority. No romantic notion of a United Nations, an international space station collaborating, but rather competing for resources. That is, however, on the assumption that the colonising country maintains control. With a commercial angle comes the golden rule – whoever has the gold, makes the rules, so fiscal appeal will entice any country ‘friendly’ or otherwise to plant its flag on the surface. Private corporations will also arrive, settling and becoming territorial where they see fit – unrestrained by space agency, on-Earth laws or ethics. One way or another, industry will be established and quickly commercialised, settlements will be established and the planet’s real estate & resources zoned for use and access. Future generations fortunate enough to migrate to the planet will therefore work for the 'pioneers'. History repeats itself.

This sounds like taking the fight to a new stage.

The second potential flaw is the question of decision-making on who is eligible to migrate. Starting with skills necessary to establish habitation, once sustainable the next waves to reach the prospering ‘new frontier’ will be the inner sanctum of elite who have the resources to move (and potentially some 'friends' from other countries). Darwinism will be replaced with ‘artificial selection’ to develop a population.

Further, the volume of how many people could migrate is by definition limited; presumably not all 8 billion people on Earth could feasibly undertake inter-planetary travel, let alone be logistically relocated. This means those remaining on earth who weren't part of 'the club' who couldn’t adequately contribute to the requirements of the new society, will literally be left behind – and gradually implode from over population, exhausted resources and resultant pollution.

An illustration of this is entrenched in the history of Easter Island. A population that started with two fishing boats of Polynesians soared at its height to 11,000 people. Then, as the last tree was felled on the previously bountiful island, depleted resources resulted in war, starvation and disease, until the population plummeted to a total of 3 tribes representing less than 100 people – the maximum the Island’s remaining resources could support.

On Earth’s current trajectory of reaching 12 billion people in the next 80 years, we will inevitably obliterate our finite resources and follow the path of Easter Island – on a global scale. Our population will dwindle to a fraction its size, hopefully sufficient to sustain the human race in perpetuity.

Our highly evolved human race has been unable to solve the problems of overpopulation, starvation and yet we reach for Mars. While space travel and inhabiting other planets is certainly an exciting concept, what will moving some of the population to a new frontier really solve?

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