fatcitymax wrote:Clearly you are an expert at ignorance.
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Martin, if you think that trying to achieve sustainability on the only planet that isn't horribly destructive to life as we know it constitutes "ignorance," well, I am just not sure what to tell you.
Here's my impression of your point of view: you think humans should expand into space as soon as possible, and anyone who "gets in the way" must be doing so out of ignorance.
You and Mr. Skeptic are no doubt "astronomy geeks," such as myself, so I have no need to describe the myriad of ways space travel and the solar system's other worlds are hostile to human life.
You could build a suburban development deep in Antarctica, if you wish. I doubt you would sell many houses. The irony is that even though the poles are among the most hostile places on earth they are paradise compared to the places in which you think humans can thrive off this planet.
There isn't any other planet well-suited for human life; there isn't anywhere else to go. The idea that cutting funding to manned missions "dooms" us here on this planet is frankly silly, because there isn't anywhere else for humans to move to that wouldn't be vastly more difficult to survive than here.
The comparisons to westward expansion in the 1900's or crossing the Atlantic in the 1500's are pretty weak, as well. Because remember, the lands our ancestors were heading towards weren't that much different, cosmically speaking, than the lands they left.
Forgive my "ignorance," but I believe that human space travel is pretty far down the priority list. For humanity to expend vast resources so that a tiny handful of individuals might get Mars dust on their shoes while the vast majority of our people (yes, humanity, no political labels in this paragraph) gain nothing from this endeavour is...ludicrous. At best.
Now you could argue how much we all gain from exploring the universe. Normally I would always support such gains in knowledge. But again, at what cost? I can't shirk social responsibility no matter how much I love astronomy.
As Mr. Skeptic pointed out, resources alone won't solve our problems. But spending what resources we have on "fun, cool" endeavors certainly won't move us any closer.
In a nutshell, you have to pay your rent before you can buy toys.
Martin, I understand your fascination with space travel; since I was a kid there have been few interests that compare to astronomy for me. I simply feel that we have other responsibilities before we can make space travel such as in "2001 A Space Odyssey" a reality.
In the mean time, robotics gives us a cheap way to gather information...not as an end but as a means; after all, the more data we collect, the more likely we will succeed when we do venture out into space.