> Most of the same tactics used to control colonies could be used to control Mars. Those tactics only work when backed up by a credible threat of overwhelming

> Most of the same tactics used to control colonies could be used to control Mars. Those tactics only work when backed up by a credible threat of overwhelming force. I do not think the Earth will be in a position to bring overwhelming force to bear on a Mars colony. It's a lot harder to do that across tens of millions of miles of space than it is to do it across an ocean. And even across oceans on Earth it often doesn't work. > Mars would probably be utterly dependent on earth for multiple generations. I'm not so sure. We have barely even started exploring Mars; we have no idea what resources exist there. We are still discovering new resources here on Earth; I would expect that humans on Mars would be doing the same there.