Ultimately it's an economic thing, you know? Like the early American settlers did have a religious aspect to it as well but many moved because they recognized that their material status would be better in the colonies, or even that they literally couldn't afford to keep living in their home country. I wouldn't exist if Irish landlords hadn't jacked up rent prices.

I can't imagine a point where moving to the Moon or Mars makes economic sense, certainly not in any of our lifetimes.

[–] Coolkidbozzy@hexbear.net 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Right? The only reason the new world was economically viable was because indigenous people molded the land to produce as much food as possible, and developed trail/road systems. It is very easy to create a self-sufficient colony in those conditions. This does not exist in space. Any project to live on another planet would require a government to take on huge expenses to build the infrastructure. Idk if anywhere else in the solar system could ever be viable for much other than robots doing resource extraction

[–] polpotkin@hexbear.net 8 points 3 days ago

They would be labor colonies for manufacturing, mining, and research. Like what we have in the remote parts of the world now.