On Sat, 18 Jul 2009 09:21:17 -0500, Marvin the Martian wrote:

Buzz Aldrin tells it like it is: the moon is a "dead end"!!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/20...rin-calls-for-
an-American-colony-on-Mars

Buzz Aldrin calls for "an American colony" on Mars
by Magnifico
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Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 01:49:51 PM PDT

Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, writes in an opinion
piece at the Washington Post that "it is time we were bold again in
space."

Aldrin's vision, "Time to Boldly Go Once More", advocates creating an
American colony on Mars in 20 years. He believes if the United States
space program "avoided the pitfall of aiming solely for the moon, we
could be on Mars by the 60th anniversary year of our Apollo 11 flight."

Aldrin thinks NASA plans to re-explore the moon is a "dead end". Instead,
Aldrin says we should commit our nation to establishing "an American
colony" on Mars.

What is the motivation for "colonizing" space? Is it not the
presumption that we are going to foul this planet beyond repair; so we
will need another planet to foul?

Perhaps a civilization that is advanced enough to colonize space hows
to take care of their home planet and doesn't need to colonize space.
Perhaps a civilization that doesn't know how to take care of its home
planet shouldn't inflict itself on pristine worlds.

What if we do find ET in our travels? Why do we suppose that he will
be benevolent rather than see us as a source of food?

We have lots of animals on this planet. How many do we want to
socialize with? Few - as pets. How many do we treat as equals? None.
Most animals on this planet are seen as food by one or more of our
societies. Why wouldn't ET see us as food? Because they respect our
intelligence? Pigs are smarter that horses. Which ends up on a dinner
plate more often in the West?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serv..._Twilight_Zone)

Maybe the "we are here" message sent with Voyager was a bad idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record

Or maybe ET won't know what to do with a record anymore than many on
Earth do today.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102975/quotes
Memorable quotes for
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Let us redefine progress to mean that just because we can do a thing,
it does not necessarily mean we must do that thing.
--
Adam