Listen to Online Interview with Mars Society President

By Aengus Anderson, The Conversation (Episode 21), 08.18.12 Dr. Robert Zubrin is the president of The Mars Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the exploration and colonization of Mars.  He is also the author of several books including The Case for Mars and Merchants of Despair.  We begin by discussing why space exploration and colonization is good but, as with my recent conversation with Dr. Chris McKay, Robert and I use space as an entry to discussing issues back on Earth.  A major theme of this conversation is environmentalism, which Robert classifies as a form of anti-humanism, offering a strong anthropocentric response to the bio-centrism of Jan Lundberg and David Korten.  This flows into a conversation about how we define progress and where we find value, in which John Zerzan’s ideas make their inevitable cameo.   Finally, we conclude with a discussion of Robert’s mixed feelings about the trans-humanist ideas discussed by Max More. To listen to the entire interview, please click here. [Image: The Conversation]