New Mars Forums

Oooh...a thread which my background in psychology prepares me for...

What we appear to be dealing with here is a delusion, which is to say a system of thoughts or beliefs that are contrary to reality. Specifically, this is the "Grandiose" subtype, of which the APA'shttp://www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/dsm4classification.htm]Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Ed. says:

"This subtype applies when the central theme of the delusion is the conviction of having some great (but unrecognized) talent or insight or having made some important discovery."

Grandiose delusions may result from several different problems, but two of the most common, and problematic, are bipolar disorder (manic depression) and schizophrenia, paranoid type. Ant, do any of the following apply to you:

male, age 17-22 
sometimes see or hear things others cannot
believe you are under surveillance

or

sometimes get depressed for months at a time
go on out-of-control spending sprees
sleep less than 4 hours per night

Ant, if any of the statements above fit you, (I doubt you'll take this advice but I feel compelled to try), please see a psychologist or psychiatrist or at least talk to a general practitioner. These things can be controlled, but left to run their course they are often life-ruining (or -ending) conditions.

And, as for the topic, I really don't see the gravity wheel becoming useful for interplanetary transportation. I mean, even if it works, what's a spinning piece of cardboard going to get you?

During my first year of undergraduate school, long ago in 1992-1993, sometimes my friends and I would go online and find a bulletin board (such a novelty at that time) and have our fun by harassing strangers in safe anonymity. It was only fun when people took us seriously and fought back. If we were ignored, we went elsewhere to be annoying jerks.

I just thought I'd share that. 

Luca, I think the images and animations you've posted are great. I still don't know what to think about the difference between the colors in your images and the ones NASA calls "approximate true color" images, but yours are more fun to look at.

Forgive an ignorant social-science type, brand-new to this forum, but...isn't the Martian atmosphere too thin for a hovercraft to work?