<Final Frontier Beckons (via NASAWatch).

Some parts of the article, excerpted from a new book, show what we may have to deal with. The author discusses the need for a frontier as one driver for space exploration:

Advocated fiercely by the likes of Robert Zubrin, author of The Case for Mars, and Rick Tumlinson, president of the libertarian-leaning Space Frontier Foundation, this argument declares that without frontiers (read "challenges"), humans stagnate and lose the will to take risks and fend and think for ourselves. In other words, without the frontier, our culture will die.



Frontier advocates cite the work of 19th century American historian Frederick Jackson Turner, who argued that the American frontier shaped our collective personality, which is individualistic, resourceful and democratic.

However, for many, the idea of the frontier leaves a sour taste. Egocentric and with a historical dark side, the concept implies that American culture and experience are superior to others and conjures up images of slaughtered Indians and buffalo.



I guess given our current culture that last dig was predictable. However, there are no Indians and buffalo in space, and yes, by any measurable objective standard of human success, American culture and experience ARE superior to most others.

..."We're running out of resources and outgrowing Earth."



Detractors say that moving out will not ease population pressures on Earth -- there's simply not enough capacity off the planet. Therefore, we should learn to live within our means.

Citing the way development on Earth has decimated the planet, Richard G. Steiner, an ecologist at the University of Alaska, says, "Humanity in space is wonderful, but we need a rational, legitimate process for deciding what goes on off-Earth."

Steiner has asked the United Nations to establish an Outer Space Environmental Commission that would review and either approve, reject, or conditionally approve environmental impact statements submitted to it by those proposing space activities.



I guess that was predictable too. I can't wait to have to go on my knees to the third-world goons of the U.N. and ask their permission to take humanity to the stars.

Still, the book looks like it may be worth reading, and I would like to see the whole thing. Berinstein is quoting others in the above opinions, and it may be that her opinions don't fall into the anti-exploration category.