Posthuman Blues

"Can you hear me, Major Tom?"

What if, due to financial and scientific considerations, NASA was able to launch a manned mission to Mars . . . but only as a one-way trip? That's the possibility explored by Paul Davies in his new op-ed for the New York Times. Firstly, I don't think a strictly one-way trip is necessary; we can have our exploratory cake and eat it, too. But what if, for whatever reasons, a one-way jaunt to Mars was all that was available (or at least foreseeable)? Who would go? Closet fatalists desperate to escape the clutches of Starbucks and Disney or unflagging optimists willing to sacrifice their home world for the prospect of an alien frontier? Does it matter?

More topically: Would I go? Yes, I would. In a heartbeat.