Regarding the desire to emigrate from Earth

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I think the main appeal of the notion of emigrating to another planet, such as Mars, or satellite, such as the Earth's moon or a moon of one of the gas giants, is somewhat rooted in the desire to spread out and move somewhere that isn't already owned by anyone else. Moving to a new world, uninhabited and unclaimed, allows the possibility of doing that. The known difficulties of such milieu are minimal compared to the benefit of freedom from the governance by people seeking power and control via unilateral contracts.

There's also the hope that once you get to the new world, you can leave the oppression and restrictions of the old world behind (USofA), or that even if the new world is a penal colony, that you can eventually live there free (Australia).

I've always wondered what it would be like to live on another planet. I've had fantasies of living on different planets and seeing different coloured skies, throughout my life.

Well, maybe you might find this of interest: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/science/clouds.html

Hopefully it would be more of the first scenario than the second. Heinlein's book about the lunar revolt covered both of those scenarios though. I hope it will be more like the development of colonies without Earth-governments trying to play a form of mercantilism.

Heck, just put a few businesses there trading resources and products amongst each other and keeping them on Mars, but the business owners still get their - as normal unfortunately - excessive share of the profits and they'll be happy making money on transactions occurring on another world even. If that can be done, following Pareto Efficiency (where any action is, at least supposed to be, either beneficial or neutral to everyone and non-detrimental to anyone), then the financial backing can be in order and Mars can thrive regardless of Earth bureaucrats and politicians.

If they offered me a high passage to another Earth-like world, I'd accept.

Unfortunately, I can only experience this through books, games, and TV shows.

I think it would be really neat to live in a biodome or space station on another planet.

Why emigrate to another planet, only to be confined inside a tin can?

Give me clean air and an open sky instead.

There probably is some genetic imperative for people to spread themselves out. Look how quickly early people covered the globe even with land bridges and accidental conveyance. Obviously, we are all doomed if we all stick around here over the long haul. It would be great to born now or later as space travel becomes more important. I am pretty sure I would be comfortable either living by myself or with a limited number of people. Perhaps, AS people are the perfect conduit to travel to other worlds. Wouldn't that be an interesting outcome?

If it's on a world millions of miles from Earth, I'll accept the tin can habitat with cheerfulness and thanksgiving to God. For as wondrous as this world is here by itself, the governments of Earth are not so wonderful and they will just continue to kill each other and, if there is ever peace, they'll start killing off the citizens via eugenics programs rather than in combat.

It would be cool if there were another Earth-type planet within reach, but until one is found or made Mars is the best option available and it is attainable even now with the techologies we've had for decades. If an Earth like planet were found in Alpha Centauri or other close systems though, it might be worth the decades of travel to see the other world and raise offspring aboard ship who will dwell there. However, for now, a 6 to 8 month trip is all that's necessary to travel to Mars and it costs less fuel to go there than the Earth's moon since Mars has enough of an atmosphere to allow for aerobraking rather than using only fuel to decelerate.

Emigrate to Mars? No thanks. I lived on board a ship for two years, and in a desert for another three months. I'd rather live in a place like Wyoming, Michigan, or the Republic of Ireland, even if the local industrial was based on pre-steam technology.

I have often wondered exactly why people would want to go to a different planet / moon, even if it was possible.

Clearly, it is good for the human race as a whole if we spread out. It reduces the chance that a single disaster could destroy all of us.

Maybe the first people that live on other planets / moons will be miners. But that doesn't seem likely. Even if there are things to mine, it seems to me that we would just use robots to mine at that point.

More likely, governments on Earth will pay people to settle colonies on other worlds, as a matter of national pride.

Or maybe overpopulation will get so bad that it will really be preferable to live somewhere else?

It would be a chance to "start over and get it right".

Imagine a world as pristine as the Western World was before the Europeans invaded. Then further imagine that the colonists were educated, healthy, and willing to work with their new environment to build a civilization that is based on reason, justice, and "fair play", instead of the suppurating pustule of a world that we have now.

That is why I would be interested in such a venture.

You are exactly right.

Cavemen could always go exploring.

In ancient times, parts of Earth were mapped, although the unknown still existed.

After the renaissance, explorers could go to America.

During the 1800s, Americans expanded westward.

But what now? We're trapped on Earth.

I wouldn't count on it. The chance for a fresh start has already come, and gone.

We already went to another world, and what was one of the first things we did when we got there? We planted the flag of a country on it. This was a mistake that will haunt us for the rest of our existence. It will come to be seen as symbolic of our inability to make a fresh start.