The 78,000

  I recently shared the news that 78,000 people applied to permanently move to Mars. I wasn't one of them, but that didn't stop me from expressing pride in the number. Of course the media made it sound like those applying were crazy, signing up to die on a rock in space for no reason.

  Someone even told me they hoped (for my sake) that I wasn't one of the applicants. That suggestion caught me off guard. Suddenly my failure to apply wasn't just irritating, the fact that I could reassure someone that I had not reached out for my ultimate dream, and that the world was happy about it, was just weird and unacceptable.

  I know what motivated those who applied (at least many of them), since I've felt the same drive my whole life. They signed up because they recognize that everyone else will die on this rock in space (and that where you die isn't the point), they signed up to be a part of a new world because they want to prove human value is a constant anywhere.

  They signed up to live on another world because they're not afraid to sacrifice personal comfort and security in pursuit of sharing meaning and opportunity with the rest of humanity.

  Applying to be part of a Martian settlement is really a humanist declaration. It declares that it's worth moving to new places, facing extreme challenges, and risking everything because life actually can have meaning and is worth glorifying.

  To settle for less than your potential and then claim your life is fully realized anyway is the real insanity. Assuming life has any purpose at all, meeting that purpose must require striving for excellence. The farther we push our potential, the more we affirm the fulfillment of meaning in our lives. To deny that is to reject the progress of living in favor of a paralyzed existence.

  Settling a new world is about living in spite of mortality, rather than just finding the warmest spot to kick the bucket. It's in the wake of adventurers that people committed to a need for normalcy will always find room to breathe until they can die on the rock of their choosing.

  The question isn't whether those 78,000 people are crazy. It's really whether you define being crazy by a courageous determination to find meaning by progress in this life, or by the determination to cloister oneself in static comfort because it's the "sane" thing to do.

  The 78,000 believe in realizing our fullest potential, and that it's worth the effort. So that you might believe it too, and as proof to our posterity, they'll test those principles with trial by fire. They may not want to live on Earth, but they believe in Earth. Can those against them really say the same?

  Can those who are desperate to control chaos, by clinging to norms and rejecting the unexpected, be said to truly believe in the world or in themselves? If we allow ourselves to think so, we risk joining the same people branded as shortsighted naysayers throughout history.

  My point is those 78,000 people believe in humanity. So do I. That's why they want to go to Mars, that's why they deserve our respect, but most importantly that's why they deserve more faith from us. If anyone has let us down, historically, it's the people who have insisted any attempt at accomplishment was foolish. I want to prove them wrong. And that's why I want to go to Mars.