What makes you think I'm trolling? I like the idea of space travel as much as the next person; I just remain unconvinced that colonizing Mars or even deep space really solves any existential problems for humanity beyond... providing more space. There's nothing radical about not believing that space travel is an answer to anything in and of itself. Apparently there's something deeply wrong for not agreeing with Elon Musk, yet nobody has stepped up to say anything except "troll".
Seriously now, what's troll-like about thinking that there's more promise in improving the human being than in colonizing Mars? If anything, diverting resources to improving the human hardware might get us to Mars faster. Granted, I'm not sure I'd want to go there, but something like Mars could become much more like visiting a national park once you don't have to worry about things like oxygen, radiation, extreme temperatures, etc.
Colonizing Mars (and/or humanity leaving the planet in general) does solve 1 existential problem. We have no reason to believe this planet is exempt from further mass extinctions. We are hard-wired to preserve our own existence and this is a step in assuring that.
