New Mars Forums

I don't believe there are any. The Moon almost entirely lacks nitrogen and carbon, which means that things like methane, ammonia and hydrazine won't be available.

Although reserves of water ice is a bonus we don't really need it for rocket fuel, unless perhaps we want the Moon to be a staging area for points beyond Mars. If we transport hydrogen by the bulk we can react it with ilmenite to create water which then can be turned into oxygen and hydrogen at will.
The process is said to be rather energy intensive, so I would presume nuclear reactors would be a good thing to ship to the Moon.

Precisely. Just my non-expert opinion. Consider me a representative of the masses.
:;):

Well, that's precisely the point. Since we come from the same place they will be no strangers to genocide.

However, it won't be important for them in relation to us, since they need not compete with us for mating opportunities or material resources (space is big, blah, blah, blah...). This in addition to not having been able to get that far had they not entered a post-darwinst stage in the first place.

Alexander Sheppard, thought provoking post. Multiple bodies per individual, hm...

Or a President Bush? :;):

I agree. Nature is competition, evolution is conflict, this must be the same everywhere.

In order not to destroy themselves, the hope for mankind and all sentient species must consequently exist in eventually overcoming and distancing themselves from nature and natural evolution, yes?
Which of course is not the same as being blind to the existential limits set up by nature, failing to accomodate oneself to it or being victims of false presumptions about the 'nature of nature'. One such false meme is one of the main reasons why western civilisation is currently going down in flames, in my opinion - namely the idea that if only processes are natural, they are somehow 'good'.

Or as "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" once put it: all civilisations go through three distinct phases marked by three fundamental questions: "what to eat?", "why do we eat?" and "where should we have lunch?".

The current shift from western civilisation to a afro-muslim one could be viewed as a natural process could it not? A weaker race being defeated by a stronger competitor breaking in and taking over control of resources, this time thanks to a fundamental lack of collective psychological immunal resistance. Maybe two thousand years after the white man has ceased to exist, the triumphant part of humanity will have changed enough to make another attempt at the stars? Or maybe it will not.

Hopefully, the Sino-Japanese will endure when we become extinct.

I've said this before and I'll do it again. In the eyes of a European Conservative, in America you don't experience Conservatism, you experience leftism. Believing one has a messianic mission to impose upon the world is leftism.
If it happens to promote the IMF, Reebook, the Evangelicals who've grown mad in the desert sun or the Jews in Tel Aviv is beside the point. It's still leftism, in a profound historical sense perhaps even more so.

While Europeans might react by turning to nationalism and the right because if it's okay in the US then it's okay over here, then that's not what's really happening. Rather, it's a feeling that the US demand for democracy everywhere might lead to violent consequences if not submitted to that makes people say, "enough with this arrogance!". It's because European Conservatives are at heart Social Conservatives or even Socialists and thus for example feel more sympathy for the Nationalism of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela - for the little guy - than for the dangerous clown in the White House.

The article referred to by Mr White is essentially correct in its assumptions about European sentiment. It was only slightly hypocritical about Hitler, but that's only to be expected. The guy aimed for continental hegemony, certainly not world hegemony, but such a goal, not least considered Entente agreements, and the methods used were unacceptable to Britain, which led to war. Thus the ghost of Adolf is not an apt parallell to current US policies which in terms of Utopianism and the global scope employed seems to have more in common with the Comintern of old.

Meanwhile, Washington tries hard to be upset about that tattered fourth rate power Iran, but from the perspective over here, that's even more comical considered the US along with Britain created the mess in the first place by ousting Mussadeqh and installing the Shah, who for all his reform programs, was essentially a puppet of oil gobbling Atlantic powers. Which led to the retarded Islamic revolution.

Democracy in action, no doubt.

Hm... just realized I've been away for months and when I return I simply spray a tag all over the place. Sorry if you feel like you've read this before.

Someday, somewhere everything will.

Yeah.

No, it won't.

Children should never be severly beaten. People/parents who do that have serious attitude problems and aren't fit for their role. Problem is "corporal punishment" is a wiiide category and it disrupts any debate about it.
Teachers for example must be allowed to use some force, otherwise a classroom (depending on the pupils) will risk degenerating into an apehouse rather swiftly. I know this from personal experience since teachers are prohibited by law to use physical force around here. It's not uncommon for violent little monsters to threat or beat up teachers but file lawsuits themselves if as much as a hair is crossed on them.

In what way, would you suggest? Purely hypothetically speaking of course and provided there's anything you might think of from the top of your head.

Universalism can be traced back to the natural rights tradition embraced by Locke, so in that sense, US Neocon imperialism is firmly Lockesian, not Hobbesian, although in the sense the terms are being used here I see what you are talking about.

Again the reasoning about the European demographic "bomb", as given from a certain CIA report, is being referred to here.
Other than 'mechanization trumping human labour' everytime, I haven't got any really good arguments against its implications, can only say that partly it appears to express the hopes and wishes of certain headstrong anti-European Americans. Like Gandalf puts it, "it feels wrong somehow".

Whatever the case, it's interesting that Europeans themselves do not appear entirely worried about the prospects. We have other problems, some that might just be intimately linked to the drop in birth rates. Who knows, the demographic problem might even go away when the future again will seem brighter?
We've been there before, you see. In the post WWI era, the same phenomenon appeared and concerns were raised. Back then, it was a case of widespread poverty, hopelessness and a lack of predictabilty with regards to the future and secure 'nesting' conditions. Yet, when institutions were created to accomodate the needs of the social to an industrialized, capitalist environment, birth rates again soared during the '40's, '50's and '60's (in some countries, like Sweden and Germany, such social engineering started even earlier). That structure, however, has largelly been dismantled today, starting in the '70's.

Thing is, in my opinion, you don't need to be rich to have children, but I believe there needs to exist a certain sense of long-term socio-cultural security and predictability in society, at least in a culture that is founded on investing in its offspring rather than pure quantity. In that sense, out-crowding immigration, cultural conflict and certain unsettling ideas endorsed by the establishment, like Feminist extremism, aren't helpful.

Anyway, with all the disadvantages Europe might have, it has one advantage that's possibly overlooked, namely the new member countries in central and eastern Europe. They will act both as a tremendous demand generator and a cheap, educated labour supply for the foreseeable future. I don't see any equivalent to this in the United States.

As for restoring US-European relations, you would achieve this by electing Patrick J. Buchanan as president.
:;):

Oh, by the way, speaking as Emperor Gennaro I of Europa, I also support Hugo Chavez's government in Venezuela.

Well, everything is relative I guess.

Nonsense.

Sure, I deplore the present situation in Iraq nearly as much as you do, my Muslim friend.

Racism has nothing to do with it. Don't even try pulling the rasict card on me, it won't have its prescribed effect. We're far beyond that sort of discourse.

Either you understand what citizenship and the social contract in a very basic, Enlightenment way, is, or you don't, Muslim!

"Nasty prosecution"? What colour could such strange animal be? I merely quote directly out of the textbooks of history. Have a go at those some time.
Turks and Greeks could have the same origin to the extent that it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Turks committed mass rape of Christian women after Manzikert or the fall of Constantinople, otherwise I'd hardly bet on it to any larger extent. They belong to mutually exlusive religions as far as marriage goes, you see.

It feels strange beginning New Years Day on New Mars writing a post like this, but anyway, there it is.

Well, I guess it appears kind of insane. I just don't know any details of why they are doing it.

Sorry, I admit my post was unbecoming considered the situation. And 2,000 of my countrymen are still reported "missing". Have you heard about how many Americans are lost in the area?