Comment by skriticos2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by skriticos2 | Hacker News Reader

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Maybe a bit far fetched, but creating a colony on Mars would be the foundation of creating a new, highly advanced trading partner.

Colonists on Mars would have to deal with extreme environmental conditions and therefore be forced to invest the majority of resources in science and engineering instead of politics and entrenched systems.

Also, martians would be natural space travelers. Mars has a gravity that's less than half of Earth's, so they would get off that rock much easier and they would have a wealth of natural resources through asteroid mining that they could sell to earth together with advanced technology.

After a few centuries the martians would push the technological boundary far beyond what we have now and give Earth the motivation to follow suit to ensure sovereignty.

> After a few centuries the martians would push the technological boundary far beyond what we have now and give Earth the motivation to follow suit to ensure sovereignty.

Native Martians would not be able to invade and occupy Earth on account of their adaption to Mars' much lower gravity. Even aside from them having to handle their weight tripling, they'd be facing major medical issues.

>After a few centuries the martians would push the technological boundary far beyond what we have now and give Earth the motivation to follow suit to ensure sovereignty.

To ensure sovereignty? I'm all for technological progress, but I don't think it should be forced due to a then real threat of a martian invasion. ;)

Invasions, or threats thereof, tend to be excellent incentives for technological progress. Until we hit singularity and/or become radically better as a species, I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Come to think of it, America was/is that highly advanced trading partner colony.

The exploration of this side of Earth had its own share of danger and uncertainty. Remember, people back then think the Earth was flat. Traveling far enough is doomed to drop off the edge.

I was with you until the Earth is flat comment - most everyone knew the Earth was round - the thought was that you could get to the Far East by going West.

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