I'd expect a tiny population at a precarious outpost to be far more measured and disciplined in terms of their growth and resource consumption than anything we

I'd expect a tiny population at a precarious outpost to be far more measured and disciplined in terms of their growth and resource consumption than anything we see on Earth. What I was referring to re: "Child's play" was the nature of a worst-case scenario conflict @ early stage Mars in comparison to late stage Earth. Nothing whatsoever related to how challenging it is to sustain life there in the long-term. I fully expect it to fail, I just don't expect it will be anything I'd describe as a "blood bath". Back on Earth with the many millions of people established and living on dwindling resources and vanishing coasts, that's going to be a blood bath.