[peoplefromibiza]

> It has something to do with genetics

All living creatures have genes, why humans in particular?

Don't dogs and dolphins have offspring?

Aren't they intelligent?

And why not plants, which are the real reason why Earth life forms can exist on the surface of the planet?

But most of all, if you have children, would you really want for them an horrible life on a Mars colony where they would grow up in a labor camp like life and develop such weak bones that they could never live the red planet to visit Earth?

[m4rtink]

Well, no one says we won't take other species with us once necessary infrastructure is in place.

[peoplefromibiza]

I seriously doubt it will be possible to force my cats to wear space suits and and oxygen masks.

But, who knows, maybe such an animal will exist in the future.

[m4rtink]

Well, a cat should live just fine on say an O,Oeill cylinder[0] or a surface level Lunar or Martian hab (possibly a large dome or huge cavern). They might have to adapt to the low gravity or the side effect of spin gravity, but the environment should eventually be pretty similar otherwise.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder

[peoplefromibiza]

> Well, a cat should live just fine on say an O,Oeill cylinder[0] or a surface level Lunar or Martian hab

sounds pretty sad for a lion or a moose and frankly impossible for a shark or a whale.

Science fiction is nice, but transporting wild animals for months in a spaceship to a desert planet with no water and oxygen?

Forget about it!

Hard sci-fi actually addressed the issue and the outcome is always the same: there are no animals in space, except some domesticated small ones. There are no wild animals in Asimov works, no wild animals in Dick, no wild animals in Lem or Clarke, no animals either in recent works, the Expanse for example.

There are humpback whales in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home though :)

The myth of the Noah's arc is just a myth, if we'll really move into space because our planet cannot sustain humanity anymore, we'll be the only species to survive. We, some plants we'll use as food and viruses/bacteria living inside us. Maybe we'll have perfected cloning technology and will try to resurrect them if the conditions arise.

But even then, how many people do you think could live in such a dome?

1,000? 10,000? 100,000?

Would we share the little precious oxygen with rats or mosquitos?

Trantor wasn't build in a day.

[haleudo]

How do your scifi stories solve social issues like the breakdown of civilization following events like civil wars caused by events like the Capitol storming?

In other words, isn't the threat to the human species mostly within itself, and finding solutions to those issues much more impactful (and attainable) than dreaming of building such fantasy structures?

Aside from the realization that society wouldn't work differently on Mars either. Look around you. The fraction of idiots in a society on Mars is unlikely to be lower than here on Earth.

[hutzlibu]

"In other words, isn't the threat to the human species mostly within itself, and finding solutions to those issues much more impactful (and attainable) than dreaming of building such fantasy structures?"

Society will break down, once there is no more hope.

Good sci-fi stories, like a colonisation of mars (like in the mars trilogy from Kim Stanley Robinsons) gives people hope, that a different world is possible, therefore (helping) preventing that breakdown in the first place.

This is the reason, why so many otherwise smart people ignored reality and signed up for Mars One for example. It is the dream of having the chance to start over in a clean way.

"The fraction of idiots in a society on Mars is unlikely to be lower than here on Earth. "

And when you have colonists with that altruistic mindset, then yes - the idiot rate of that society has the potential to be significantly lower. This is why people would sign up for one way tickets - exactly to get away from the idiots here on earth.

But yes, a real mars colony is very far away and would likely stay a hellhole for a long time, until either terraforming becomes realistic, or big domes, that protect enough from radiation, but gives people freedom to move in sunlight.

No one wants to go to mars, to become a mole in a bunker, even though this is what the beginning most likely will be. It is the dreams, that attract us Mars enthusiast. I would argue, if there would be more people dreaming, instead of mindlessly watching netflix over and over, there would be a better chance to make those dreams real. Also here on earth.

[haleudo]

> And when you have colonists with that altruistic mindset, then yes - the idiot rate of that society has the potential to be significantly lower.

If people sign up to this trip believing that they are getting away from all the selfish idiots, then they are in for a big surprise.

Seen what happened at Twitter recently?