I'd be okay with just having a colony there. In the long term, the sun will go boom and we're not going to want to be there when that happens. Of course that's

I'd be okay with just having a colony there. In the long term, the sun will go boom and we're not going to want to be there when that happens. Of course that's super-mega-long-term, but the only way we'll ever be able to move from Earth is if we start taking small steps in developing what we'll need for that. Creating a colony on one of our closer neighbors seems like a pretty good next step to me. Why not start sooner rather than later? I agree it would be great to fix the problems we have on this planet first, but even with adequate allocation of resources, it might take less time to put humans on Mars than it will to eradicate poverty, end war, and reduce population growth.