Would you go to Mars?

[Magical Realist]

And stay there till you died? Some people say they would. I guess that's one way to get your name in the history books. But geez...to die on Mars? How cold and alienating!

[C C]

And stay there till you died?

It's a given that the "stars are my religion" new type of pioneer filled with the holy ghost of scientific awe and curiosity would venture there (which was probably my substitute for a "save the whales" phase when I was a preteen). Along with the extreme sports junkie gunning for adrenaline rush challenges (the early astronauts might have fit into that category).

But the old school pioneers are the only ones that I might now remotely qualify for, IF I was afflicted with similar conditions they lived under. And IF the red planet was really the kind of alternative that the New World once was. Otherwise, forget it.

Back then there was the incentive of going to new, dangerous, and unsettled frontiers to escape persecution of beliefs and "stay in your place" class systems. To seek freedom from excessive laws, bureaucracy, and polices. To be independent slash rise above inherited family poverty via acquiring ownership of cheap land for farming / ranching; and discovering resource opportunities for wealth.

But simple survival on Mars would require strict regulation not only from the very start, but for decades (centuries?) to come. Hardly a destination for the elbow room of liberty, and the hardships / risks thereby potentially being acceptable.

So among the traditional motivations, resource opportunities might be the sole, available inducement ("Get here first; establish the new Amazon or Google of raw materials and goods from Mars!").

A place to send "criminals" as colonists (a la Australia) seems a distant, outdated echo of the days when eleven year old orphans were imprisoned for stealing. There is the return of the 18th and 19th century version of homelessness since the government-supported mental health hospitals were shut-down. ("It's a matter of civil rights, they must actively demonstrate themselves to be a threat to themselves or others. No longer be afforded that once easy admittance and prolonged or permanent residence in large institutions. Living free in the cold, diseased gutter without meds and eating discarded refuse is a better life!"). But it's difficult to imagine the domestically abused / substance addicts and the mentally ill (whether being a major source of today's long-term malefactors and homeless people or not) being able to persistently navigate the complicated obstacle course of perils on Mars. That would be a demanding situation enough for even those with psychological and cognitive consistency.

[stryder]

Those that usually say they would want to "Run away to Mars" tend to be people that feel alienated by the world they live in.

It's possible that Nationalism is seen as an old world rationality, with flags defining a majority of people stereotypically so even if you disagree with what your leadership does you can still be seen as a target that certain people despise. It's possible to that political systems that claim to be Democratic but use Republic structures where the power of groups of conspirators is handed to a limited number of individuals to voice their collective agenda's is seen as a corruption of what Democracy stands for.

Such alienation see's politics in such a way where only severe changes (absolute shifts) are the only time that politics looks as if it actually is trying to achieve something, which means any smaller, long term goal changes that would occur over time are impatiently ignored.

There is then things like Warfare, Famine, Disease, Poverty, Religion.... all things that people would love to steer clear of or suggest their is no reason for their existence in the first place, unfortunately not having the capacity to do something about it literally leaves the only option of "Running Away".

[Yazata]

And stay there till you died? Some people say they would. I guess that's one way to get your name in the history books. But geez...to die on Mars? How cold and alienating!

Yes, I think so. Especially if I had some way of surviving there for some time and wouldn't die immediately. And especially if I was part of a group of people and I wasn't alone. (It needn't be a big group. I can see five people working if we were selected for compatibility.)

I'm 68 and coming to terms with my own mortality. Dying on Mars would be a lot cooler than dying in an ICU here on Earth after having a heart-attack.

They say that young people are the risk takers. (I certainly was when I was young. I'm lucky to be alive today.) But in a way, old people are the more natural risk takers. They have less to lose.

[Magical Realist]

They should send agoraphobics and social anxients to Mars. People who have made their peace with long hours of nothing happening. People just as happy reading or analyzing soil samples as having conversations. An extrovert would go crazy in a week if not strung up on the outpost pylons. lol!