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Many people of that age already put together that much money (or close to it) --- to buy real estate. I can certainly imagine people taking out mortgages to go
by michael_nielsen 14y ago
Many people of that age already put together that much money (or close to it) --- to buy real estate. I can certainly imagine people taking out mortgages to go to Mars.
- podperson 14y agoNo-one will loan people money to go to Mars ;-)
- stcredzero 14y agoGiven that labor on Mars will be scarce, Mars colonists are likely to make high 6-figure incomes. Also, given the opportunities to establish new businesses on a new world, many are likely to become multi-billionaires.
- podperson 14y agoOnce the Martian economy is this advanced, recruiters from Martian ventures will be offering relocation packages to Mars. You're presupposing the economy has bootstrapped to this level.
- stcredzero 14y agoNot at all. There are plenty of precedents where 1st worlders have received 6 figure salaries far above the market pay for the same job in the 1st world where there was economic turmoil. (Iraq right after the fall of Saddam.) If you're working someplace remote, and you're not getting paid above market, then you're doing something wrong. (Hell, I've heard there are glorified clerks in remote places in the Aleutians that make near 6 figures for basically sitting around.) Given that some Mars colonists will be very rich, and that many governments and companies will pay you to do engineering and research there, Mars colonists are almost certain to have high salaries.
- yafujifide 14y agoAt first glance, colonizing Mars sounds awesome. But upon reflection, being a debt slave on a desert planet sounds less appealing.
- stcredzero 14y agoProbably more appealing than a desperate mercenary in a dystopian cyberpunk universe.
- codex 14y agoI don't see how that follows. Mars would have no net exports to Earth, and no real wealth, so I don't see it approximating anything like a real economy. Most likely Mars will be dependent on wealth transfer from Earth for decades, so there will be no "salaries" per se-only people paying to live on Mars.
- stcredzero 14y ago> I don't see it approximating anything like a real economy. My point is that it doesn't have to at first. (Some European North American colonies didn't have a real economy at first, either.) Right now, there are people paid to do research in Antarctica. (Not paid as much, but if the current international legal climate towards colonization of Antarctica changes, this will change.) > Mars would have no net exports to Earth, and no real wealth In the context of a solar-system wide civilization, this is patently false. Mars would be tremendously wealthy for reasons that are analogous to the wealth of the North American continent. Mars has many of the things that Earth has (exploitable ore deposits, water, and potential for agriculture) but it has them in a much shallower gravity well, so basic physics would dictate that Mars would dominate trade over Earth in such a context. Whichever civilization realizes that Earth is just a local maxima for human potential and dominates the colonizing of Mars will dominate the human history of the solar-system, just as English speaking western civilization dominated the 20th century through the settlement of North America. My hunch is that many Chinese scientists and engineers understand this very well, and this will result in a concerted effort by China to colonize Mars. So what I'm saying, is that there will be initial wealth transfer from Earth, fueled by nationalistic competition.
- DanBC 14y ago"HONEY BOO BOO ON MARS" "THE KARDASHIANS ON MARS" etc etc. People spend stupid amounts of money on stupid things already. One of the big networks has easily got enough money to send an idiot and a camera up there.