"Todd Bandrowsky" wrote in message
m...
In the absence of any economic opportunities, the land on Mars isn't
worth
10 cents.

Only a compelling economic opportunity on Mars will make the land worth
anything.

Possession is opportunity. Imagine the world outcry if we Americans
put a man on mars and claimed it for the United States. Immediately
China and Europe would start building their own fleets of ships to
stake their own claims on mars.

Are you saying that insanity is infectious?
I don't think you'll find Europe doing anything of the sort. We'll more
likely develop a whole new range of pasta-shapes and sauces and totally
dominate the world of lifestyle enhancement and better-designed and more
efficient vehicles, homes and communication-systems which make air-travel
hardly necessary even for the businessman. We'll also develop more
sophisticated systems of democratic government.
Then when you tire of playing in the backyard we'll call you in for dinner,
take away that dangerous vote you were playing with, remind you to wash your
hands and send you to bed early.
Wouldn't you prefer Tuscany to a desert on Mars?
Given that we'll have moved beyond dependence on any single exhaustible
resource, what could exist on Mars that's important enough to tempt us away
from our present lifestyles?
Why not just tend our vines?

Keigwin.