For more than the last 10 years, I have been subjected to most vicious personal attacks by manned Mars flight enthusiasts.
Why stick around and take it? To learn what makes them tick for one thing; the other is to see if they can be made to understand.
And the answers are what makes them tick varies from individual to individual, and they can not be made to understand.
Why do some otherwise intelligent people continue to believe that Mars is Earthlike,
in imaginary launch costs, and that the public will pay a $100 billion for manned flight to Mars by a few people?
The answer lies in cult psychology, where impossibilities are regularly accpeted.
Why do people join the Mars Society and other manned Mars groups?
Because joining a group relieves personal stressors which come from other factors in their lives.
If staying in that group requires the suspension of rational thought, then that will be done
for the sake of emotional comfort.
cao knee men,
E.P.
The Cult of Mars