On 8/11/2013 3:05 AM, Brad Guth wrote:
On Saturday, August 10, 2013 11:55:27 AM UTC-7, Brad Guth wrote:
On Saturday, August 10, 2013 6:33:01 AM UTC-7, Martha Adams wrote:

big snip

Try to imagine what a trillion dollars per year (in 2013 dollars),
of public matching funds for off-world exploitations could have
accomplished, starting as of four decades ago. By now that incentive
would have amounted to 80+ trillion dollars invested and directly
benefitting each and everyone of us, as well as capable of salvaging
our global environment.

================================================== ==============

For reason I don't understand, I'm seeing a lot of doublespacing
introduced here, along with very long lines not helpfully filled.
I just re-filled the above paragraph, which has in my view, a
very important point about space settlement, if maybe the numbers
are off by two or three orders of magnitude.

America's immense military budget is still shy of a trillion
dollars per year -- I think, officially it's around 700 billion.
I don't know the amount of money circulating thru the overseas
arms sales business, nor how to count the costs of political
and ideological corruptions. (A recently published book,
Leibovich, This Town, may bear on that matter.)

But *yes,* a few ten-billions of dollars as a stable program (held
safe from today's devastating political interventions) would
change our world very quickly. I see particularly, a growing
popular appreciation of the reality our species is vulnerable to
large astronomical events, see the current (Aug 10-16) issue of
New Scientist: Solar Superflares, p. 46 there. Vs today's social
awareness of Out There still believing our world is practically
all of the universe and it was made by a supernatural being who
bears perfect resemblance to the Father of a simplified and
idealized human family.

Titeotwawki -- Martha Adams [Wed 2013 Aug 14]