This is not optimism. This is just a stupid idea.

Let’s forget that, as of now, there is no technolgy adequate enough for shielding cosmonauts from cosmic radiation during the space trip, and preventing people from arriving on Mars while suffering from cancer. Let’s forget that there is no liquid water and someone has to either bring it from Earth or mine it from Mars’ undergound water deposits. Let’s forget there is practically no oxygen on the martian atmosphere and you’d have to wear a space suit all day long for the rest of your life. Let’s forget that the low gravity will weaken your muscles even if you work out regularly, and you can never go back to Earth because your muscles will have atrophied. Let’s forget all these technicalities.

Who on their right mind would sell everything in their possession in order to migrate to a barren planet and having to start all over again? People usually migrate searching for a better future, not a worse one.

At some point there will be a human colony on Mars or the Moon. It just won’t be by 2050. More like 2150, if not later.
Extreme Tech