By Abe Messing, news correspondent
Marshall Brain, the founder of HowStuffWorks, paid Northeastern a visit Feb. 7 to discuss budding interest in establishing a colony on Mars, something Elon Musk plans to make a reality in the coming decades.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, launched his Falcon Heavy rocket into space last week and intends to send a manned mission to Mars by 2024.
Brain, the current director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program at North Carolina State University, spoke to a crowd in Renaissance Park as part of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities’ “Theorizing the Global Future” speaker series. He said although he finds the prospect of colonizing Mars fascinating, he doubts it will actually come to fruition for a number of reasons. Before poking holes in Musk’s vision, however, Brain said Musk’s track record is impressive and that a colony on Mars would be incredible if it does succeed.
Brain then addressed the practicality of living life on Mars.
“You’re going to pick up a lot of ‘debris,’ or problems,” Brain said.
Brain said the most important question to consider for the colonization of the red planet is which economic system would be established. An economic system would provide a framework for the way of life on Mars, he said, but right now that is poorly outlined in Musk’s blueprints. Brain said he remains highly skeptical.
First-year economics major Stefanos Kiorpes agreed with Brain’s line of thinking in terms of Mars colonization.
“Brain did a good job of highlighting the importance of quantifying how much thought, apart from the scientific research, needs to be put into this initiative,” Kiorpes said.
First-year political science and economics double major Justin Calautti was not as enthused by the presentation.
“I think it was a good thought experiment, but that was about it,” Calautti said. “Most of what was talked about was not substance, but speculation, and I felt like I could have easily predicted the answer to any question I may have asked.”
Brain’s latest book, “Imagining Elon Musk’s Million Person Mars Colony: The Greatest Thought Experiment of All Time” is available online and further explores the prospect of an economic system Brain believes will radically improve quality of life.
