About 250 years ago a bunch of guys on a remote land, far, far away from the "civilized world" came up with a wild idea that all men are created equal and are e

About 250 years ago a bunch of guys on a remote land, far, far away from the "civilized world" came up with a wild idea that all men are created equal and are endowed with some inalienable rights, and started a big social experiment that turned out to be quite successful. And then Europe took notice and copied it eventually. The main thing that Europe got from America was not cheap tobacco, or cotton or rum. It was an idea. Those who think there's nothing of value on Mars to bring back to Earth, don't realize that ideas have more values than minerals or crops. The colonists that we'll send to Mars will form societies that will experiment with new social contracts. They'll come up with new solutions to social dilemmas. And some of these solutions will just be good. And we'll benefit tremendously from them back here on Earth. Or maybe I'm just a dreamer.