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by Retric 3541 days ago
Depends on what problem your solving. If you want the oldest 10% of the population not to die in poverty that's actually fairly easy to solve. In you want ~0.00% deaths from starvation that's also easy to solve. However it's cheaper to provide basic heathcare to everyone than it is to provide top quality heathcare to the elderly.

Reducing drug use to some significantly lower level is very possible, ending it is not. Going to Mars is easy, colonizing Mars is a pipe dream. Governments can solve a wide range of problems reasonably efficiently, but open ended goals without a clear stopping point become unbound problems.
1 comments
M_Grey 3541 days ago
>Going to Mars is easy, colonizing Mars is a pipe dream.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate hearing this position from someone on this site. I've tried to make that argument here and elsewhere, and it's met with an almost religious fury. I really appreciate that I'm not alone in my intense skepticism of this "colonies on Mars: coming soon!" nonsense. I'll believe it when we've solved, or at least even begun to address the big problems involved.

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wtbob 3541 days ago
The oceans are orders of magnitude more hospitable to mankind & human life than is Mars, and yet we have, to my knowledge, absolutely no undersea colonies. The idea that we'll colonise Mars before we colonise the oceans (a full three-quarters of the globe) is, simply, insane.
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Axsuul 3541 days ago
Supply & demand. There's just more people who want to colonize mars. if you're going to make the argument of living underwater, then you might as well live in the desert where it's probably even easier. Just because something is easier doesn't mean you should do it.
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yongjik 3541 days ago
> There's just more people who want to colonize mars.

Completing the circle of comments, this is exactly what this SV adage warns against: Don't trust customers promising to buy something once it is built, because they may not.

The "demand" on Mars colonization is essentially unproven.

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drakonandor 3540 days ago
Perhaps the attitude of "Let's do it!" is exactly what's needed for the first step of solving big, difficult problems?
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M_Grey 3540 days ago
Resources and talent get things done, attitudes do not.
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