75467.0 / 01 January 2022

Kids Born on Mars would be weaker

We all know space poses many dangers. But are those dangers greater then doing exploration into the deep oceans? Are the short comings of the humany anatomy to survive in those environments mean we shouldn't try to overcome them. The human story is about our ability to use our minds to overcome those short comings. Being too negative about our abilities is probably not doing a service to us or future generations even if it does get you clicks. So maybe we can have a discussion about how we could talk about space and potentially teach and learn from others about what is really possible. Because even people that are insanely rich such as Jeff Bezos and are in fact in the rocket industry still say kind of silly things that they probably wouldn't even they really thought it through.

I recently made a 25 minute video talking about an article I read and how many of the things listed in the article are kind of sensational and probably not as accurate as it could be. Here is the video.

  1. Poor Eyesight

    • Claim doesn't make sense because you can always go outside of the confines of your habitat.
  2. Weak Muscles

    • Astronauts fight this effect already albeit not as well as they could.  Currently the ISS doesn't have an artificial gravity creation method.  
  3. Altered Skin Tone

    • This is potentially possible, but highly unlikely to be something experienced for a long time as evolution doesn't occur that quickly.
  4. Brittle Bones

    • This is again talking about the same effect felt from lack of gravity.  One of the methods that helps promote healthy bone density is exercise.  If the gravity is 38% less then you would only need to wear 38% more weight on your body when exercising.
  5. Increased Exposure to radiation

    • Average human exposure on Earth is any where from 350 to 620 mrem depending on which source you use.  But those averages vary greatly depending on your job and daily activities.  You will likely not experience increased radiation exposure because the habitat will provide extra radiation protection and your space suite will as well.
  6. Weak Immune System

    • Average colony size and a consistent amount of biological activity will be present in the habitat and as new astronauts arrive and shipments of goods needed to survive.  We have no reason or need to sterilize absolutely everything while living on the habitat.  Your immune system might decrease some what, but that isn't entirely accurate.
  7. Evolution would occur in one or two generations

    • Evolution would not occur at this rate because the premise of his assertion is based on the fact some evolutionary change would be an acceptable trait that would increase likelihood of breeding.  Humans don't really work this way, at least at present.  People often get into pairs and mate with little regard to these characteristics, but this varies from culture to culture.
  8. Jeff Bezo's said living on Mars is worse then living on Mount Everst

    • I think the biggest differences will be 10s of tons of goods being delivered and some of the most advanced technological equipment along with some of the brightest minds doing their experiments and work at this location.  While yes the environment is worse, it isn't the environment you are seeking here.  You are seeking the idea to expand the scope and scale of human consciousness. 

**References This article https://www.the-sun.com/tech/4044467/elon-musk-mars-children-mutations-skin-bones/ I think was just sensational, but was fun to dig into.

Here are my references https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300208719/future-humans https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/radiation/around-us/doses-daily-lives.html https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/radiation/around-us/calculator.html https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/air_travel.html https://phys.org/news/2016-11-bad-mars.html https://www.pandasecurity.com/en/mediacenter/mobile-security/cell-phone-radiation/ http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/NucEne/radexp.html https://www.unitjuggler.com/convert-equivalentdose-from-mrem-to-rem.html?val=10000 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226434 https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/spacex-spacesuits