Congrats SM, good topic for once:

It's all very well to put sane people in charge - we thought we'd done this in the airline industry where people flew like sheep and the pilots were security checked and then trusted (except for the odd Silk Air or Egyptian incident). Then someone worked out a way round the system. Now you need a security clearance just to fly!

But that whole episode illustrates the Murphy's law aspect of technology. Basically if there is a way fof things to go wrong, then they will. often a way you didn't expect and didn't think probable, but sometimes in the most obvious way that you thought was so obvious, nobody would make that mistake.

Cars, planes and trains crash either by accident or on purpose. Nuclear power plants have been known to have catastrophic accidents. Nuclear-armed planes have crashed and radioisotopes been dumped in silly places. Mineshafts collapse, earthquakes happen...

So it will be in the future. If we develop high energy-density power transmission in space, it has the potential to go wrong, either in error, or by malicious intent.

One way to minimise the malicious element is to ensure that all mankind shares the benefits of space travel and space-based power, and that social inequities (real or perceived) are addressed. This cuts the support from extremists and means only the most malign will see any benefit in working to cause damage.

The same for the world we live in today - if life was perceived to be fairer, there would be less hate and jealousy.

Not sure if that would be good for progress in the long term, though.