The Economist this week thinks that the dreams of space exploration - as in Startrek and 2001: A Space Odyssey are now over:

With luck, robotic exploration of the solar system will continue. But even there, the risk is of diminishing returns. Every planet has now been visited, and every planet with a solid surface bar Mercury has been landed on. Asteroids, moons and comets have all been added to the stamp album. Unless life turns up on Mars, or somewhere even more unexpected, public interest in the whole thing is likely to wane. And it is the public that pays for it all.

The future, then, looks bounded by that new outer limit of planet Earth, the geostationary orbit. Within it, the buzz of activity will continue to grow and fill the vacuum. This part of space will be tamed by humanity, as the species has tamed so many wildernesses in the past. Outside it, though, the vacuum will remain empty. There may be occasional forays, just as men sometimes leave their huddled research bases in Antarctica to scuttle briefly across the ice cap before returning, for warmth, food and company, to base. But humanity’s dreams of a future beyond that final frontier have, largely, faded.

Unfortunately he may be right.

As environmental and resource constraints increase over the next decade or two our ability to look outward will also be constrained. The catch 22 of this mess is that in reality the solution to those resource constraints is OUT THERE not down here.

F

__________________
"Patriotism means being loyal to your country all the time and to its government when it deserves it."-- Mark Twain

"Inter arma silent Musae"--when the weapons speak, the muses fall silent.

An't nanum hearm deth, doth hwaet ye willath.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. -Voltaire

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.36

Well that's the cretinous Economist for you. A survey of public attitudes in 2009 reported:

Quote:

"Key Take-Aways Most Americans are interested in the space program (60%) but an alarming number have no interest at all (19%). Interest is particularly soft among women. On the positive side, large majorities feel that the space program is important to national security (71%), contributes to national pride (79%), and inspires young people to study math and science (82%). Half of the public feel that the space program has not directly improved their lives in any way. Those who do, however, cite technological developments and knowledge about the universe. Most believe that the U.S. continues to explore space in order to maintain our status as an international leader or because it is human nature to explore."

Infinite Frontier: Public opinion on space exploration survey

As I've always said, capitalism's inability to see the big picture, to imagine both the past and the future as versions of the present, is one of it's primary and glaring weaknesses.