This is the location where I have been keeping record and notes of items of relevance for my final project.
Just the idea of colonization of Mars makes me nervous. Why? Because I feel like there are so many issues we have made here on Earth that can certainly propagate on another planet if we aren't careful. Are we going to make the same issues on Mars that we have to the environment here on Earth? Will we have the same segregation and class problems there as well? These are the topics that make me concerned.
When I think about this project, I continually go back to the question of, "How will we decide who gets to go to Mars and who will make that decision?". SpaceX and Mars One are two corporate giants that are funded by investors that have an agenda for this jump to Mars. Are they going to be the ones that decide? Will the government decide? And then I turn the question around to myself and ask myself the same question, "Who would I put on Mars?" and I can't say that I have an answer. Will it just be the rich that get to go? Will it be the new Silicon Valley if Elon Musk and SpaceX gets there first?
I made some audition tapes of some potential candidates that might be some of the people that end up living on Mars for the rest of their lives. I'm not sure I would say that I would want any of them to go, especially based on a simple video. How much information would we need to receive from a person to say, "Yes, you can go to Mars."? What traits, qualities, personalities, etc, would help a person get to move to Mars and which ones would prevent them?
This question fascinated me.
Because I couldn't find an answer for the person I would send to Mars I have been toying with the idea of creating and application package that would have a multi-page questionnaire and DNA sampling kit so that the government/company that is permitting you to help colonize Mars has all the information needed to make the decision if you should go or not. Additionally, since I've enjoyed making videos, I was contemplating making a TV advertisement/sales pitch about the kits explaining the reasons for them and their ease of use (similar to the 23andMe video but more corporate in feel).