Like all such articles, the author takes his starting point as non-problematic: we humans will rush off into the solar system to colonize at least one planet. From there, the exposition is moderately rational. But this is like starting with the proposition that obviously we are all going to eat our own legs, and then proceeding to list some seemingly sensible recipes by means of which to make our leg-eating more palatable.

In reality, there is no economic model for colonizing any alien world, nor is there any other imperative. All the nonsense notions conjured up by people who've watched too many sci-fi movies are in fact without merit. We have evolved to live exactly here on Earth, and if we screw it up there's no Plan B. There is no Disney-esque shiny technological future than can save us from our own idiocy.