Humans will never colonize Mars

[notFritzArgelander]

The biology of this is quite daunting. That's why I think that the prerequisite technology for Mars colonization is to develop a new species that is more Mars tolerant.

I don't think you realize how close we are to being able to create such a species. IMO it's already happening, we just don't realize it.
....

I don't think you realize that such a new species, if it succeeds in colonizing Mars, would not falsify the proposition that "humans will never colonize Mars".

[notFritzArgelander]

Coyote's Rule of Absolutes

If you use the words "always" or "never" about a social issue, you should expect to be proven wrong at some point. Human existence is a relative condition.

Rules about "never" are effective rhetorical devices that are of questionable truth vale.

For example: "never add one and one to get three" is pretty safe. Also, "never fund a momentum violating rocket system unless you want to fail" is another.

[GCoyote]

Granted. It's entirely unclear that the current concept of a distinct species will still apply to humans if each individual can potentially have a customized genome. Assuming Terrans and Martians can still interbreed, would they want to?

[notFritzArgelander]

Granted. It's entirely unclear that the current concept of a distinct species will still apply to humans if each individual can potentially have a customized genome. Assuming Terrans and Martians can still interbreed, would they want to?

If they can't interbreed then the OP's thesis is safe on that front. If they can, then there are questions. What environment would suit them?

[GCoyote]

It's why I find the topic interesting. We can't answer the question until we first translate the romantic analogies from the Great Age of (European) Discovery into much more robust statements.

I don't believe many of the popular concepts for terraforming are either as easy as their proponents claim nor are they strictly necessary to establish a permanent presence in space or on another body. It's clear there is a not a lot of rigor in these discussions as to what constitutes a "colony." Now we see we may also be forced to ask, "what constitutes a human?"