The purpose of this collection is not to discuss the technologies required for the round trip. Nor is it to discuss the ‘inevitability’ of human quest to explore. Instead, the focus is on ‘what will happen’ when the humans reach Mars.

When the ‘white men’ arrived on the new (American) continent, they brought much of their own culture and world view with them. Despite the existence of natives who were already living there, the newcomers began to establish the institutions they imported. And those new institutions were to the detriment of the existing natives. That did not stop the newcomers, nor, by-and-large, saddled them with moralistic issues.

Mars, to our current knowledge, does not contain any native populations. However, the Earthlings arriving there, once again, will bring their own institutions with them. In this case, we may even surmise, more than one system, given the proliferation of space technology among nations of diverse backgrounds. That also means there will be more than one culture, as well as Governance method. Does that herald a clash of cultures and Governance modes? At that point, it becomes necessary to spend some overview time, looking at the behavior on Earth.