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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 6229154" data-attributes="member: 22424">I'm rather pessimistic of our chances of ever moving to the stars. It seems much more likely that we'll either wipe ourselves out first or (perhaps more likely) simply exhaust the resources available on Earth before we get to the point of making any serious ventures into space.As in the exploration of the so-called New World, the initial explorations will likely be done by obsessed experts, with their expeditions funded by the rich (and the spoils of those explorations going back to the rich). The second phase, the colonisation, will be done by people with the particular combination of being hardy enough to actually survive it, and desperate enough to leave everything they know to seek a better life.And most of them will die.My guess will be that the rich will sponsor the various colonies, provide them with a large amount of technology to attempt it, and only move over themselves if and when the colony is already pretty well established. At which point, it will probably become apparent that much of that technology had some sort of kill-switch installed, so if the rich are not permitted to resume their privilidged lives then the colony is wiped.Or, perhaps more likely, the initial colonies will eventually gain independence (either legally or de facto), and the rich will go the way of the kings of Spain - that is, they reap rewards initially, but are gradually left behind as a new group of &quot;the rich&quot; grow up in the former colonies.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="delericho, post: 6229154, member: 22424"] I'm rather pessimistic of our chances of ever moving to the stars. It seems much more likely that we'll either wipe ourselves out first or (perhaps more likely) simply exhaust the resources available on Earth before we get to the point of making any serious ventures into space. As in the exploration of the so-called New World, the initial explorations will likely be done by obsessed experts, with their expeditions funded by the rich (and the spoils of those explorations going back to the rich). The second phase, the colonisation, will be done by people with the particular combination of being hardy enough to actually survive it, and desperate enough to leave everything they know to seek a better life. And most of them will die. My guess will be that the rich will sponsor the various colonies, provide them with a large amount of technology to attempt it, and only move over themselves if and when the colony is already pretty well established. At which point, it will probably become apparent that much of that technology had some sort of kill-switch installed, so if the rich are not permitted to resume their privilidged lives then the colony is wiped. Or, perhaps more likely, the initial colonies will eventually gain independence (either legally or de facto), and the rich will go the way of the kings of Spain - that is, they reap rewards initially, but are gradually left behind as a new group of "the rich" grow up in the former colonies. [/QUOTE]

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