This, The idea that an independent Martian colony is just around the corner seems to have an incredible following here in hn. That's radically over-optimistic

This, The idea that an independent Martian colony is just around the corner seems to have an incredible following here in hn. That's radically over-optimistic in a wide variety of ways. Exactly which resources are would scarce for such a colony is challenging to predict but guess humans - living indefinitely in 38% of earth gravity probably isn't possible and even reproduction would likely be harder still. A colonized Martian environment is going to be one big room/box for a long time. Also, it's not just raw materials that are going to be scarce. Microprocessors, chips, as an example, require continent-scale support/supply-chains on earth, where most things are easy. Vacuum is cheaper on Mars but not free like in space and all sort of other things are harder.