I'm not sure Mars will turn out differently. But in the early days, the people will be unique. And that's worth experiencing, even if it's for a short while.
When you're in a situation where you could die tomorrow, and you're with other people who signed up knowing those risks, it's different than almost any other experience available to humans.
Yes, it's a form of craziness. But a dose of crazy can sometimes work out in rather interesting ways.
Or it won't. But there are worse ways to light billions on fire.
People have been writing stories about Mars for a long time. Isn't it worth a few billion dollars and a few million lives to bring those stories to life?
Do you really mean this, I mean, I don't even....
Also, that "lives" figure is counting the descendants of the people that eventually make a life for themselves on Mars. Those descendants won't get a choice, and one could argue it's unethical to put them in that position. So any analysis of how many lives Mars is worth must take this into account. And if it's anywhere near successful, a few million lives is at the low end.
What about their descendants? (by the way, who has a much better chance of surviving here on earth than in the fragile conditions in what ever planet)...
And often have been taken advantage of....Just saying...
There's even a saying : "nobody remembers the second person who climbed the Everest".
We're talking about colonization, not Everest-like conquest. Most colonizers will be anonymous. Whatever goals they'll have, fame will not be one of them.
At least I know what love is. So when someone does something foolish for love, I understand.
But when someone tells me he wants to spend billions to live in a small box on a cold, airless desert planet constantly bombarded by lethal radiations, and when he justifies that by "that's mars, and that's the only justification I need", I tend to think that's quite an other level of irrationality.