re: Colonizing Mars- really what’s the point?

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Considering we can’t terraform the places on this planet that are not as uninhabitable as other planets there is no way to terraform other planets.

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Terraforming involves extreme disruption to the existing ecosystem. I realize that we do that already but we tend to avoid doing it unnecessarily.

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Get back to me when people actually colonize the interior of Australia or the terraforming of the great deserts begins.

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Ever heard of The Line?

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Interplanetary travel/living is a pipe dream for the next 1000 years at least.

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Maybe. But in the early 1900s many people still thought man was thousands of years away from heavier-than-air flight.

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So how much taxation do you think we should have today over it? I say $0.

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I say more than $0. There are more payoffs than just the big one at the end. Many advancements happen in the interim.