> People who say this don't understand that Mars colonies aren't about pragmatic, resource-optimized decisions. On the contrary, many of us agree very much wit

> People who say this don't understand that Mars colonies aren't about pragmatic, resource-optimized decisions. On the contrary, many of us agree very much with this. Mars is not a practical goal at the moment and it doesn't make sense from a resource perspective. What might be more exciting, I think, is to develop such a well-functioning, resilient terrestrial society, such an abundant, adaptable community of life, that we could realistically take ourselves and our companions to Mars and hope to persist there. But that takes a lot of know-how, a lot of materials and energy, and (most importantly) a lot of wisdom. Is a species steamrolling its paradise of a homeworld's living fabric really capable of planting a viable colony on a dead planet?