I'm not telling you you can't, or shouldn't. You want to go to Mars? That's a fucking great aspiration.
I'm just saying I don't think software is going to be a major export. Or anything really... unless they find something valuable that's uniquely Martian.
Stop being offended by people disagreeing with you.
I completely agree with you that software will not be a major export. Nothing will be a major export. But that's completely irrelevant to everything I've said; I'm a programmer, and I will be able to afford a $500,000 house or a trip to Mars in my mid-40s. If I go, I will be unlikely to work a job purely Mars-based, and it makes sense that I would continue with my work as I do here on Earth: writing software.
Your suggestions that Earth basements are better for that life is...well, I don't really have words for how offensive that is. I'm not offended by your disagreement with me, I'm offended at your attitude that nerds should stay in Earth basements and not go to amazing places like Mars.
Absolutely, sorry.
The nerd thing was a joke. I thought the assumption here was that we're all nerds?
Edit: because I put things in the wrong place.
Conditional on there being a Mars colony in 30 years, then there will almost certainly be mineral and food exports from Mars to the rest of the solar system other than Earth in another 10.
No way to grow food there unless you export a whole lot of greenhouses and set up an artificial biosphere, but without the conditions that we take for granted on earth.
This is already hard to do in deserts or in the Polar regions, where we have plenty of oxygen and free moisture flowing in the atmosphere.
[1]: http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast121/lectures/lec14.html for a good explanation.
No, you can build the greenhouses in-situ. We have already worked out how to produce metals and polymers from martian resources.
> This is already hard to do in deserts or in the Polar regions, where we have plenty of oxygen and free moisture flowing in the atmosphere.
Sure, there will be considerable challenges. I don't see anything that will be insurmountable.
links?
How is this relevant to growing in pressurized domes?
As far as production for export not happening for generations: well, I disagree and I think that's completely crazy. I only brought it up as an example that the people living there will not be jobless. I didn't intend on starting some giant export debate, as clearly nobody here has any real idea to what extent there will be exports from Mars within the next 30 years.
But yeah, keep insulting me, that'll help this discussion.
Edit: If I sounded offended, I partially am. The suggestion that I should stay on Earth because it's cheaper is perhaps the most offensive thing anyone's said to me in a while.