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mmscichowski t1_j6n0geh wrote

Reply to comment by Apophis_406 in Why do we send robots to Mars but not humans? by MatthewCollinsN83

Now imagine boats and it’s just 400 years ago.

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REF_YOU_SUCK t1_j6n1c4r wrote

not really.

When the explorers landed in the new world, there was still air to breath and food to hunt & forage. There was also an abundance of resources to build shelters and native populations who were in some instances willing to trade.

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mmscichowski t1_j6n1io2 wrote

Maybe… but good luck getting back. If you missed the next boat you just had to live with it.

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League-Weird t1_j6ne7fa wrote

Imagine deciding that anything is better than the persecution or life you had in civilization and getting on a boat where you had a 25% chance of dying from a number of issues. Then you get to land and have to have the knowledge needed to thrive either by yourself or with a group of strangers. Not sure how many survived the mayflower voyages.

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ryan__fm t1_j6n3faf wrote

There are certainly humans who would sign up to fly to Mars, even if there was no return.

Besides the fact they didn't have robots as an alternative, there are huge financial differences... a boat doesn't cost billions of dollars, and there was a potentially massive upside to discovering a new trade route or undiscovered land that could be conquered and civilized/pillaged. We already know enough about Mars to know there's probably not a lot there, it'd be like me taking a boat to Antarctica knowing there was no way to get home.

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