A year alone on Mars? For how much money?

[Neutral Observer]

That may just be a temporary, (but recurrent), feeling though(?) .. I mean, you still connected with a human on your last trip, yes?

Yes, but ideally I wouldn't have made that trip, or any trip for that matter. Unfortunately I don't live in a town that has grocery delivery, so I'm restricted to ordering what I can from Walmart or Amazon, and having it delivered by UPS or Fedex. Which is basically confined to non-perishables. Anything such as milk, or bread, or eggs, or meat, or frozen items I have to go to the store for. That means that I have to make a certain number of trips to the store per year, and I try to keep that number to a minimum. As I said before, I don't have to make another trip until sometime in April. At which time the checker will say I a certain number of words, which I could almost quote to you verbatim, and I'll respond in kind. So basically I can estimate fairly accurately how many words I'll speak in 2023, and what those words will be. Occasionally I'll encounter a situation in which I'll be forced to interact with someone, but I try very hard to avoid such situations.

The thing is, I would very much prefer that I never had to interact with anyone... ever. Give me a dog, and that to me would be heaven.

 

[SelfSim]

Yes, but ideally I wouldn't have made that trip, or any trip for that matter. Unfortunately I don't live in a town that has grocery delivery, so I'm restricted to ordering what I can from Walmart or Amazon, and having it delivered by UPS or Fedex. Which is basically confined to non-perishables. Anything such as milk, or bread, or eggs, or meat, or frozen items I have to go to the store for. That means that I have to make a certain number of trips to the store per year, and I try to keep that number to a minimum. As I said before, I don't have to make another trip until sometime in April. At which time the checker will say I a certain number of words, which I could almost quote to you verbatim, and I'll respond in kind. So basically I can estimate fairly accurately how many words I'll speak in 2023, and what those words will be. Occasionally I'll encounter a situation in which I'll be forced to interact with someone, but I try very hard to avoid such situations.

The thing is, I would very much prefer that I never had to interact with anyone... ever. Give me a dog, and that to me would be heaven.

Yet you're communicating with me (and your dog) .. do you include those in your word count?

I get that you don't prefer it, but that preference is clearly available knowing that you can do it. This isn't really the same as knowing that you can't do it permanently, (the latter of which is what I mean by isolation from other humans).

 

[AV1611VET]

What would it take for you to spend a year alone on Mars without any communication with Earth.

A Klondike bar!

 

[timewerx]

I'd do it indefinitely for free. I might even pay them just to get me off this rock!

Mystery and the threat of death are good enough companions for me to keep one's mind occupied and sane and I bet there's lots of them in Mars!

 

[Neutral Observer]

But I imagine that some extremely materialistically motivated human might just give it a go.

I fail to see how materialism has anything at all to do with one's ability to thrive in an isolated environment.

I mean, the human imagination tends to go haywire after a while and what was formerly brushed aside as mere wind-blown sand against the shelters hull can begin sounding like the scratches of claws threatening to break in.

Unfortunately the human imagination can tend to go haywire regardless of whether or not it's isolated. The world is full of imagined demons. So it's difficult to determine whether isolation would aggravate or alleviate this tendency. Probably neither. But the effects would definitely be mitigated. One crazy person is interesting, but a bunch of them are dangerous.

What would it take for you to spend a year alone on Mars without any communication with Earth.

A ship and provisions.

 

[timewerx]

Unfortunately the human imagination can tend to go haywire regardless of whether or not it's isolated.

What's worse than isolation is being surrounded by people that hates you.

You never realize how relaxing and peaceful isolation really is until you have spent very long time with rotten characters.

It's definitely wrong to ask for volunteer astronauts nor scientists to go on long term isolated missions as astronauts and scientists tends to live very comfortable lives, surrounded by people who loves and adores them.

These are the sorts of people who goes absolutely insane at the prospect of indefinite isolation, lack of creature comforts, lack of hygiene, and have nothing else to eat but bad-tasting foods for extended periods of time. A lot can go wrong in space and astronauts getting real cranky from less-than favorable living conditions have happened before like in one particular Apollo mission, (NOT the Apollo 13)

Ironically, if the mission didn't required the vanity, fame, and glory of having a human being onboard, the best chances of success for extreme endurance missions is always with a computer / automation.

 

[Ophiolite]

What's worse than isolation is being surrounded by people that hates you.

You never realize how relaxing and peaceful isolation really is until you have spent very long time with rotten characters.

It could be said with equal vigour and authenticity, you never realise how enlivening and refreshing the back stabbing and [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]ing and snide remarks of a community are until you have spent a very long time in isolation from all humanity.
In short, that which you find worst is dependent on the individual and their life experience, in particular the most recent.

It's definitely wrong to ask for volunteer astronauts nor scientists to go on long term isolated missions as astronauts and scientists tends to live very comfortable lives, surrounded by people who loves and adores them.

It may very well be wrong to force astronauts or scientists to do so, but asking for volunteers allows mature individuals to make a choice. What is wrong with offering people such a choice?
By the way your assertion that "astronauts and scientists tend to live very comfortable lifes . . . ." suggests you are unaware of the pressures endured scientists, investing much of their time in writing proposals for research funding, rather than researching; using every trick in the book to pulish first; fighting for years in the hope of acquiring tenure. I'm confident many would be happy to step away from it for something so exciting.

These are the sorts of people who goes absolutely insane at the prospect of indefinite isolation, lack of creature comforts, lack of hygiene, and have nothing else to eat but bad-tasting foods for extended periods of time. A lot can go wrong in space and astronauts getting real cranky from less-than favorable living conditions have happened before like in one particular Apollo mission, (NOT the Apollo 13)

You seem unaware of the hardships experienced by a field geologist, or an archaeologist digging in a remote corner of the Sahara, or a botanist collecting specimens in mosquito ridden New Guinea, or a ornithologist observing bird behaviour in the Amazon where illegal logging operators may just bump off a stranger "to be on the safe side". By ignoring tens of thousands of such examples you give the impression you are ill informed on this issue.

Ironically, if the mission didn't required the vanity, fame, and glory of having a human being onboard, the best chances of success for extreme endurance missions is always with a computer / automation

Perhaps. The experience with the Voyagers certainly supports your claim. However, if all humanity felt, as you seem to suggest it does, this way then some of our ancestors would never have walked over the next hill, figured out a way to cross the wide river, decided to find out where those antelope went every summer. We would all be leading a hunter-gatherer life on the East African savanna.

 

[timewerx]

It could be said with equal vigour and authenticity, you never realise how enlivening and refreshing the back stabbing and [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]ing and snide remarks of a community are until you have spent a very long time in isolation from all humanity.
In short, that which you find worst is dependent on the individual and their life experience, in particular the most recent.

Hate from online community is tolerable for me. I think some people even derive amusement from it. But literally living with people that hates you and even narcissists on top of it is incalculably worse.

I have lived in isolation for a few times in the past. The worse experiences I had was experiencing many strong hallucinations.

The hallucinations were identical in nature to paranormal / supernatural manifestations. I was observing reality fall apart right before my eyes, wide awake in the middle of the day and it's taking place everyday. Most of them only managed to stop when I kept my living space exceptionally tidy and orderly all the time and turned the TV on 24 hrs at low audio volume (loud volume is not good).

Looking back to these crazy, other-worldly experiences, I'd still rather have it than living with hateful people.

And fortunately, there's a simple, no-meds cure to isolation-induced hallucinations - TV and and keeping your place in order and clean. Sometimes, music, even dancing and singing and hobbies especially. Things to keep the mind occupied and stimulated. Unless you actually enjoy seeing other-worldly stuff and ghosts.

Many of the PhD's I've met are well-to-do. Though I have rarely met field PhD'ers.

 

[Neutral Observer]

What would it take for you to spend a year alone on Mars without any communication with Earth.

Just as an exercise in "Would you rather".

Would you rather spend a year alone on Mars, or being homeless in New York City?

 

[Occams Barber]

Just as an exercise in "Would you rather".

Would you rather spend a year alone on Mars, or being homeless in New York City?

I'll take Mars thanks

OB