Is it really necessary to send humans to those places just to get the knock-on benefits? Couldn’t we do those things directly, without going there?
It seems to me that, today, those who have the money to spend on these endeavors would only do so if there were perceived short-term benefits to themselves. That means they plan to exploit the resources, or increase their own power somehow.
I know the good engineers that make this happen are doing it for the challenge and in the pursuit of knowledge, and I know that’s why we poors support it, but that doesn’t “pay the bills.” What is the motivation behind the money? Why are they really doing this?
Unless you’ve written blog posts on this before then no I can’t do research on it, because I want to know specifically why you want this. From your answer should I assume the reason you want humans to colonialize other planets is genetic redundancy?
I gave that as a long-term practical reason, but I think a more overriding one is that expansion is a universal trait of living things, as I said, and I don’t have a reason not to want it. The world has enough resources to solve Earthly problems and also reach outward. The answer is to fix politics, not to stop exploring.