From: "O'Regan, Emlyn" <Emlyn.ORegan@actew.com.au>
>Absolutely! Mars, no question. Space, the final frontier, these
>Except I'm not colonist material. I'm a flabby office worker,
>are the voyages, etc. I've always wanted to go into space, and I
>would definitely go to that Japanese resort on the moon.
>jungle. If I was dropped in the wilderness with only my wits to
>aid me, then I would die. I get edgy if the supermarket is closed
>on public holidays.
>Mars is a hostile environment for humans. No doubt there are ways
>of taming it, but the initial colonies wont be waving a magic wand
>and *BLAM*, DisneyWorld!
>Mars would need paranoid survivalists, smart enough to adapt,
>scientists maybe, but not the sort of people who missed their
>creature comforts. They'd need to work well in groups, be happy
>with no privacy, and have a high boredom threshold. Farmers?
>Military people? Engineers? I don't know.
Welcome to the list Emlyn, you might enjoy reading the Mars trilogy of Kim Stanley Robinson (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars).
As to not being colonist material, you could become colonist material by adopting a good diet, state of the art vitamin/antioxident protocol, and plenty of exercise.
These will serve you well just being on this planet (you are already a colonist, spaceship earth remember...).
Brian
Member, Extropy Institute
www.extropy.org
Member, Life Extension Foundation
www.lef.org