Would your loved ones answer the clarion call?

Message One serious problem for me is that the woman I married is extremely prone to dizziness. She can't even read while moving in a car. The two RPMs of a Bernal Sphere would most definitely do a number on her inner ear. I'm not even sure Island 3's much more sedate .5 RPMs would be OK for her. Of course the reason for wanting things like Islands 1-3 is so that the usual human needs with regard to shopping, sports, malls, etc. can be met. But I guess between here and there is going to be a stage of space development more akin to living on an offshore oil rig, and I suppose that was the era you're addressing your question to. But even then, I don't see a problem with music lessons for your kids. The instructor might even be back on Earth, and linked via video. As for leavingbehind relatives and sweethearts, of course it will be the same situation as when Europeans immigrated to the New World. Expect a correspondingly small percentage of the population to be willing to uproot and sever such connections. (But if we're talking High Frontier type settlement, as opposed to Mars settlement, the travel times for visits will be much less. Yet another advantage.) I am busily trying to infect my 6 year old daughter with the space adventure meme; whether it will take or not remains to be seen of course. Your question also prompts me to wonder how many Mars enthusiasts would be willing to live the rest of their lives inside pressurized modules on Mars if it came time to put up or shut up. I suspect they're thinking more about the terraformed Mars of the 24th Century than Mars as it will actually exist for the duration of their lifetimes. I suppose a critic could charge that I'm thinking more about Island One than the kinds of small pressurized modules which will be it for many decades, but I think it's at least somewhat more practical to pine for an era that might be several decades away rather than several centuries. But when people tell me that a brickwork habitat on Mars, or a lava tube on the moon, or a cave inside an asteroidis a perfectly practical proposal for colonization, I have to wonder if they've really thought through the implications of living without sunlight for the rest of their lives. Again, I wonder what decision they would really make if push came to shove. I'm glad O'Neill proposed a space settlement scenario which would still involve living in sunlight under normal gravity and with fairly traditional agriculture. If 1/10th as many people flock to Mars as Zubrin expects, many more times as many should be flocking to orbital settlements where they can live under much more Earthlike conditions, and be closer to kin and friends left on Earth.

Regards,

Mike Combs

Just a fluff question for everyone to ponder.

All of us on this list are space-nuts and I assume that we'd all
jump at the chance to live, work and settle in orbit, but knowing
that such a move would be analogous to frontier settlement in days
of old, with hardships and lack of creature comforts, could you
convince your spouses to come? How about your children? Could many
give up the favorite American sport of shopping? How about the lack
of traditional opportunities for children, e.g. music lessons,
organized sports, hanging out at the mall. Could your family be
persuaded to give up access to aunts, uncles, in-laws, grandparents,
etc. How about your teenage children giving up their current love?

Just some random musings.

TangoMan