> The other issue is that human colonization has always been driven by "real" pressures like limited resources, war, or economic expansion. This is true, but o

> The other issue is that human colonization has always been driven by "real" pressures like limited resources, war, or economic expansion. This is true, but only after colonization had become an economic feasibility for those who weren't enormously wealthy. After Columbus 'discovered' the Americas, nobody in their right minds would board the next ship to the Caribbeans because it was not clear there was any reason to go. It took the funding of governments and interested frontiersmen to do the exploration, much like what we will see on any interplanetary colonization. Only until there is enough infrastructure and a semi-self sustaining economy on Mars, will there be a low enough cost and enough interest by entrepreneurial individuals.