Arathain Kelvar wrote:
While she's clearly a nutjob, we should absolutely consider the social aspects of sending a colony to mars.
For example, if you take our best and brightest, and discover that they are all white males over the age of 50, I would argue that's the makings of a disastrous (or at least short-lived) colony.
A colony should reflect the diversity necessary in a successful social community. Leaders, workers, variable ages, men/women, etc.
Now, how necessary it is for the initial foray to be representative of a long-term viable community is up for debate - they could just be there to prepare for such a community.
Lastly, does ethnicity matter? Maybe - depending on our thoughts for a long term societal structure. As with all things, we should start at the end goal, and work backward. How do we get there?
It's certainly an appropriate debate to have.
I don't think there's any actual debate over "will hypothetical colonists want to **** and have babies, and is it a good idea to provide for that if we want there to be any point at all in having a colony?"
Because, you know, a diverse community of males of many races and ages is not likely to be a big improvement over "white males over 50" in the longevity department.