Good call. I would do that as well. Hopefully they could get pregnant by either some smarty scientists or Olympic athletes. I would send just 3 guys; a doctor, a scientist, and an engineer. The rest would be the pregnant chicks. Although frankly, even with the cheating of sending already pregnant women, it's just not enough people to provide the genetic diversity needed to last more than a few generations.
I had a two year relationship with someone that was Borderline PD. Some psychiatrists call them 'energy vampires', because what they literally do, is suck all the energy out of those around them. They can be high functioning or low functioning. Those that are the former can be very succesful in their career, however, it is likely that their personal relationships will always be a roller coaster, ending in disaster. Those that are the latter often finish up in prison or visting a psychiatric hospital, at some point in their life. Bi Polar disorder is a quite different thing, and, interestingly enough, a very high number of particulary talented or creative people tend to have suffered from the condition. Some argue that it is their disorder that has led to their genius. For all you know, that brilliant scientist that you wish to take along, he may be on the bi polar spectrum. Not sure if it would be reason to disclude him, it is sort of like saying that if someone with these named conditions should not reproduce.
I was going to answer your original question with "There would be some great artists... if they made it" originally. Where the survival of the species is concerned, I am not willing to gamble. We are human. We will develop dysfunctions. To start with, as even keeled and skilled in their field as possible.
would take women who show good biological breeding characteristics to insure the survival of the human race also would look toward the bible to reference this, will try to be like noah a man with great responsibility given the arduous task of having to repopulate the new world. will see it in principle that the creater bestowed upon me this burden as the saviour of mankind and will use this gift granted by God to justify not seeking any other men to accompany me on this voyage as for professionals in different fields that is a waste of time most people with common sense know more than the professionals and the human race didn't begin with professionals it can start over the same way
Good question. I hadn't thought that far when I wrote the original post. What would be the one scientific field useful for settling on a new planet?
You may not be aware though, if they are non diagnosed, which many are, they it is all down to chance. Moreover, I think you would find that in the extreme circumstances of such a small group of people living together, in such alien conditions, that many behavioural issues would rise out of people, that you are not legislating for.
Big question. Hard question, esp since you are limiting it to one scientist. I would take more than one, lest one died, perhaps? I suppose you could take one that had a good generic grasp of biology, chemistry, and physics. I think one that knew his astronomy and space related science, could be of use? Let me throw another question out there. Remember, we are reseeding this new planet, if you will. Do you pay mind to the racial preservation of the main human racial types? Okay, I understand the basic premise you want the best people etc, but do you think it at all important that some mind is paid to the above? Moreover, let us say, for the sake of arguement,that you did consider it important, what would inevitably then happen is that the small crew number, of varying racial types, they would literally have to produce babies that were a mix between said racial types, until, over time, there would be one racial type, possibly? Not sure if that is how it would eventually go, that you would end up with one racial type, on said new planet, and how long it would take to reach that one definitive type. Jack
Well I figured the Doctor would cover the biology and chemistry areas, but I couldn't think of a big role at that stage for physics, or astronomy, that's why I didn't come up with something to begin with. Maybe I was going down the wrong track with a scientist in the first place. Maybe a building contractor, handyman, mechanic, or survival expert would be a more useful fit. As for the racial types, I sort of took it as a given that the people selected would be from all different groups. Not for any blah "diversity" goal but just that different racial types would provide the broadest genetic diversity, which considering the small number of people you're starting with, is a must. It still probably wouldn't be enough anyway unless you bring along a wide selection of frozen sperm and ovum.
A 'survival expert' would ony be trained to survive extremes on Earth. His skills might be totally redundant, on another planet, with new conditions, that were not replicated on Earth. Just a thought. So, if we took a broad racial type, does it follow that in time, we would eventually finish up with one race, and how many generations do you think it would be to reach that stage? After all, each specific race type, as it is now, would literally be no longer, the moment the breeding began, and repeated, and repeated. And I will throw this in, as well. You are permitted to take the DNA of six pairs of animals, non human animals. Upon arrival, you will be able to replicate a male and female from each species. What do you take, and why? Jack
If the planet isn't earthlike enough, the question is moot since people won't survive very long, whether they have a survival expert or not. "Races" are not forever. People might for a brief time have similar ethnic features but all of that variety is in our DNA, just waiting to come out. As groups moved across the new planet and become somewhat isolated, different ethnic features would probably come out again. Maybe not in exactly the same way they are on Earth right now though.
It's similarity to Earth may end with the air being breathable, the availability of water, and the presence of a temperate climate, not too hot, not too cold, however, all else could be quite different altogether, in which case, the survival expert's skills could be less useful, or even counter productive, since he would be looking at things through his earth training. Re races, it might be possible, given enough time, and if the conditions in some way made it beneficial to be so, that some races could eventually evolve that would be new altogether - the green skinned race, for instance, if a genetic mutation took place, the some chain of events in the environment played a part, is it too much of a stretch to suggest that in the very far future, a green race could evolve, and grow, from a genetic mutation?
