There is no need for articles like this. We will go to space not for some altruistic or spiritual reasons, but because there are unlimited resources and it will become cost effective. We are on the verge of several technological developments that will not only make space colonization possible but economically viable. When I say verge I am speaking of 50-100 year time spans. I have no doubt that we will make the material advances necessary that will make a space elevator practical on the order of 20-50 years. At the same time, automation technology will continue improving and von-neuman type replication machines will become possible. With the space elevator available to upload the initial "starter" robots at a reasonable price, I think we will begin automining the moon and some near asteroids. This automining will be linked to the automation of mass transfer devices (low gravity movement of goods within the solar system). Automated production of energy production facilities and robotic factories will also be started. The confluence of all these things, will allow an exponential resource acquisition and construction paradigm. Such a paradigm could be used to mass produce space colonies and extend human reach throughout the solar system. Once begun, I think human beings will "infest" large swatches of space and could number in the trillions in coming centuries. Who knows where any of it will lead however, as we are probably neanderthals on the verge of self evolving replacements for ourselves. The nature of us both individually and en masse is subject to radical change within just a few hundred years.