From Mars with Love

I had the good fortune to speak to someone today about the prospect of colonizing Mars. It was an eye opener to realize not everyone is as passionate about space science as myself- or even knowledgeable about the basic workings of the world around us. Worse yet, he's moderately Christian and from what he mentioned- a creationist at that. But it was a fairly engaging conversation and I've been working pretty hard for the past couple weeks to keep my snarky pissed off comments to myself when it comes to Religion or Science. You can't change the hearts of the people by acting like an asshole- even if it's what half of these people deserve. Here in the South- the ignorance runs deep like Georgia clay tsk tsk.

So here I am explaining how the Mars One project has selected 100 people from the thousands of applicants who want to voyage on a one way trip to Mars- when this guy asks the fateful question 'why should we colonize Mars?' I really thought this was a simple question and answer scenario, but he really was having trouble wrapping his head around why humanity should ever leave Earth to colonize- anywhere.

I really don't want to get into all the reasons why Mars is a great opportunity because what I really found interesting is his inability to understand the logic behind what I was saying. It's really my problem with religion- and you see it all the time around here. He's a good sport at least and we engaged in pretty in depth conversation about biology and physical limitations of humans. But you could tell there was a lot he simply didn't agree with. Such as the fundamental understanding of the age of our planet- our solar system, or even how biology evolves to adapt over time.

That's a pretty big issue in itself. This guy isn't dumb- he's probably sharper then I am truth be told. Which is all the more reason it baffles me when I see him- and others like him- close the box around themselves. The age of the Earth for instance. This hasn't been a fact that's been disputed in years- we've found the physical evidence and tested it using proven methods. Methods that have been determined to work by not just our nation, or members of Western Faiths. These are methods that have been determined to work globally- and together as a global society we've tested the same experiments repeatably to conclude: Earth is at least 3.5 Billion Years Old. Perhaps tomorrow that age will change with new evidence- but as of today this known fact fits very well into the model of the solar system, that is supported by thousands of other facts that have proven themselves against opposing theories.

Point is, to tense up during a conversation because you choose to believe the world is 2,500 years old is ridiculous. How can anybody of any religion- insist so many conflicting facts are wrong, then call up their buds on their iphone's which utilizes or works in tandem with so many facts they just called bogus? There's a great irony in religious folk that they just don't see. The world around them has changed and in my opinion it's the beginning of the end for religion.

Technology will be the end of the religion- or force it to change into something none of us can predict. Who would have thought that the Pope would have made all of the world shattering statements he did over the course of 2014? And what will come of religions everywhere when we finally find life on another planet, asteroid or comet? The point is, religion is being forced to adapt to a ever changing and expanding world. The church's of the world are being forced to plug as many holes as they can on a sinking ship. The avalanche of science and reason is quickly sweeping over them- and this doesn't become more apparent than when we look at Church statistics across the US, where we find church attendance plummeting across the board. Perhaps to no surprise, we're also seeing an increase in two opposing directions. Atheism and Evangelicalism.

But it's the fatty middle of Religion that is taking the biggest hits. While many Americans are still willing to call themselves spiritual, the curtain is slowly dropping as the lie is fading on their own lips. The problem is how explosively expansive the world has become to billions of people across the planet, such as with the introduction of high speed internet. This article in fact, makes an amazing case to that exact point.

So where does this leave our Mar's colony conversation? I'm not sure he really understood why it was important for us to go to Mars. It didn't matter that it meant a second chance for humanity, or an extension of our reach across the Solar System- or even just the technology we'll invent from invitations we'll only find on the Red Planet. Truth be told- it seemed a lot like a conversation someone might have made when talking to Columbus prior to his voyage to the West Indies. There's plenty of reasons not to go boldly into the unknown- and history has taught us how hard colonization can be even on our own planet. But when we look ahead and see how America, Australia or the hundreds of other colonies have fared over the years we see there's hope of a larger positive impact.