Posted by: Recon Number 54
Profit can drive people into new markets, have them exploring for new resources, but just pure exploration, just "going there in order to get there, because you're pretty sure what will be there when you arrive"? That's not something that corporations tend to do willingly or eagerly.
Space is huge. I know, everyone says that, I wish that I could have trademarked the phrase. But it is so utterly huge and so mostly empty that other than resources, "up and out" only holds the interests of business if there is something better, cheaper, easier or more plentiful "up and out" as opposed to "down and around". Risk/reward, profit/loss are the pressures that the market places on its inhabitants in order for them to evolve and survive or die.
It was the individual, usually the ones considered half-mad by all reasonable people, who were willing and who did go where there be dragons. Personal greed makes people gamble, the risk/reward calculations for individuals are much more fluid than they are for corporations. And so, real risk, real exploration is going to depend on emotions. Pride, fear, and yes, even some greed. But people don't get off of the couch and shareholders do not elect boardmembers unless there is something motivating them to do so.
I don't see the thick part of the population bell curve buying into space exploration unless they have a serious and significant emotional reason to do so. It's sad, especially for me, because I don't see myself on the thick part of the curve when it comes to this matter. I am one of those wackjobs who believes that the sooner we get human feet stuck and staying anywhere else other than this rock, the sooner we no longer have all of our evolutionary eggs in one basket.
well said recon, its a shame that as a species we have lost the age old tendency to go out and explore, to see what's on the other side of the valley, just for the purpose of discovery and the new horizons it can bring to us.