Who will be the next Space Power?

that would be stupid to ship stuff via rockets. the current plan is to use a small coil/rail gun to fire the resources in heat resistant reusable modules just fast enough to brake atmosphere and have it be picked up in orbit. costing almost nothing but the money to power the gun (almost 1/30th the price you listed)

Limiting the ability of humanity to grow as a species is NOT an acceptable solution to the population question. Providing incentives? What kind of incentives could possible compel people to deny the fundemental programing that they have, handed down thruoughour millions of years of evolution [or creation for the other side]? Even though people are aware that they cannot economically support a family, people continue to propogate. As a scientiant species, we have an advantage that has become a disadvantage: our ability to gain the upper hand in any environment on Earth has enabled us to grow at a rate that our planet simply cannot sustain. Before, when one region became unsustainable, we moved to another. We cannot do that anymore. The only option left to us that is acceptable [letting our species die is not] is to expand spaceward. If we allow currency and personal gain to consume our future, we won't have one. No venture has ever been rewarding when no risk was involved. No profit without sacrifice. When the King and Queen of Spain dispatched Columbus, they were taking a gamble in every sense of the word. There was no guerrentee of success. This will be on a larger scale, but with similar needs. Space will become the New World.

Even if that's doable, $700/kg still sounds like a lot of money.

Man you're a phantasmagorical silly person.
Reproduction is not hardwired into your brain, sex is. Sex =/= reproduction... this isn't worth debating.

it's very doable since we have had rail guns since the 1980's that could do the job. a middle class person can make that in less then a month. it costs more to light the white house then to use that method of colony resource shipping.

sex is enjoyable, make you feel very good sex IS reproduction. one of the facts that shows sex is hardwired into us look at a normal teenage boy you will find he has one thing on his mind.

The feeling of pleasure during sex is to help you want to reproduce i.e reproduction is hardwired.

What? Very good sex is definitely not reproduction. While I don't agree with Ronald, he is right. The desire to reproduce is not hardwired into us. The desire for intercourse is.

and what is the end result of intercourse?

btw this is massively off-topic

How the hell did you guys manage to change a discusion about what would be the next space power, to wether sex/reproduction is hardwired or not?

The key here is "per kilogram". Spending $700/kg to ship, let's say, a ton of "insert resource here" is not worth it. Not to mention that it's still very much a pipe dream.

With proper use of contraception, a smoke and then sleep.

I'm not a biologist, but isn't the point of intercourse to reproduce.

Absolutely nothing if you take certain precautions or actions. You might be a bit winded though, depending on what your into.

Not entirely. People have been sex for pleasure since forever.

What is the result? A dirty condom.

This idea comes from the era we live in of birth control and protection. Previously the only reason to have sex was to reproduce. The pleasure you feel is a, i don't really want to say genetic but evolutionary, response to increase the likelyhood f reproduction.

well if Sex was painfull i doubt mankind would get very far.

Not really. You don't need birth control or protection to not have babies. People have been having sex for pleasure for a long time. I mean hell, they had a brothel every five feet in the middle ages, which was probably the most sexually repressed era.

Do you think about babies while having sex because I sure as hell don't... that's just gross.

Prostitution has existed since before the Roman ages. Since they had no birth control back then, I assume they just did it anally/oral. So no, sex for pleasure isn't a modern idea. Edit: Or you could just abandon ship, before the cannons fired.

It is not that people have been having sex for pleasure, but the reason for that pleasure. Your body wants you to have sex to reproduce, which is the point of sex.

Not really. I know my body wasn't telling me to start reproducing in college. Quite to the contrary actually.

they had birth controll, how effective it was can be debated, but since the human repreductive system is incredably unefecktive i took a while for the hoes to get pregnant.