Mars mission - and it's meaning for the world of today

Bob Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society, speaks against 'cultural pessimism' at the 9th convention of the European Mars Society in Bergamo, Italy, on October 17, 2009.
The speech is remarkable, even compared to older speeches of Zubrin, because he abandons the US national perspective and explains the worldwide political implications of the Mars project.
"It's not just a question of what happens in the future. It's how people today view that future - because that will determine the political forms and .. activities that they do today."