Who will be the next Space Power?

yes but why harvest resources here when you can do it without harming anything somewhere else.

We have plenty of resources, our efforts would be better spent elsewhere.

Also, answers to what questions would be solved by going across the Solar System?

Cost

We can understand the origins our existence and the existence of other things in the universe and also read the post above yours.

Not really? I mean ya, that's one of the reasons I answer practically everything I disagree with (since I have the mosts posts you can see how far that got me), even if it's not directed at me.

It was about the next Space Power, so really about a hundred years max. It still wont be more effective to mine the Astaroid belt, maybe on the Moon if we're lucky and we use up a ton of resources on Earth.

What population stress? Not to mention it's going to be a long time before a Moon colony can be self-sufficient.

There's no reason to think that would be easier on the Moon than on the Earth. Maybe if we started travelling the Galaxy, but that'll be a damn long time.

I'm not saying because it's easier and also I imagine we would figure out a pretty efficient way quickly if we use resources form other planets we don't harm our own and ourselves.

are you stupid? uninformed or both? because a whole statement was wrong. there is population stress on earth, 20-38% of the worlds population have barely any food. a moon colony could become self-sufficient in less then 10 years with current tech.

And I agree with you, we still [or rather the Earth still] have the capacity on this planet to maintain ourselves. But what about our growth? That is the question. If not now, in a century or so we will [with little doubt] need to start expanding to aquire the resources to help regulate our exponencial population growth.

We do have population stress, it is apparent in East Asia. China, Japan, Korea [both], India, etc have population amounts that. China's One Child Only Policy was put in place specifically for this reason. The problem is not enough food. China spends billions every year, subsidizing basic foods and stockpiling others incase of a bad harvest year. While we have the resources on Earth to aleviate this stress, so would we have many abilities provided we all worked together. But we don't. Therein lies the rub.

Yes, I am not as optimistic as Inquisitor sounds when it comes to a colony attaining self-sufficiency, my point is that the purpose of the colony would not be to provide materials for Earth, but to relieve the population stranglehold. And that nothing risked, nothing earned.

Just so you all know Ronald thinks space travel is the devil and colonization is the ultimate evil. Don't listen to his nonsense lest you be swayed from the future of our species in favor of dirt farming until we sign an extinction contract.

No food is a problem if we are going to maintain a growing population we need more water and food things that can't keep up with the population growth. We need to educate people that is how we reduce the population strain.

I kinda agree with your logic since we do have thje resources to expand and build colonies. It might be expensive in the short term but it will be useful in the long term..

Plus I think that a combined Asian space program could do the the job

Okay, back to the discussion of who's going to be the next space power.

i think dirt farming is a pretty cool guy

Gragh, I missed this one! Silly flower child. Nature is there to be bent and appropriated to our will, violently if we choose so.

@ Kalaification
I think that the veterans of the site were well aware of that and that the newcomers found out pretty quick.

@ Observer92
Apart from that being a bit condeluded and [I believe] missing some key words to make it communicate the meaning that you intended;
education alone will not save us. Even a Warhammer 40K farm world combined with a SG power source could not keep our population in check on this planet. We will need to expand at some point and quite frankly, I don't see either of those marvels of technology coming along any time soon. And diplomas don't taste good, too much ink.

@ VladimirGLenin
As much as it might appear, the only thing that Asians consistantly agree on is that non-Asians are barbaric and rude. India stands apart from the rest in culture and religion. China and Japan still maintain isolationist attitudes. Korea [both] are not in a position for any sort of major space program. Vietnam is too poor and is getting into fights with China. Again. As individuals only China and Japan have major potencial. As a group, China would dominate every move and thus it would fall apart quickly in my opinion. Especially since only China and Japan would be able to bring anything substancial to the table. All of the other Asian countries are too small and have no practical motivation for such a program.
As I stated to many people in this thread, united potencial obviously outweighs individual potencial, but the likelyhood of an equal work-and-benefit arraingment is unlikely.

No to reduce we need to educate people that way they will get better jobs earn more money and need less children bringing the population down. With impoved eductaion also brings better healthcare so there is better chance an infant will survive also making it so people don't have to have as many children.

Yeah, Kali has me pretty much figured out. I think space sucks a bag of dicks, it raped my cat and burned my house down. To that effect we should all be dirt farmers, it's the only choice!

Dude, space raped my cat too, but we have to learn to forgive. Revenge isn't the only way Ronald.

Something people have to start understanding: the currency market, the economy, its all an illusion. It has as much power as we allow it to have. Having a larger income doesn't solve world hunger. Look at Somalia, where their currency is literally not worth the paper it is printed on. It doesn't help; having all the money in the world, if the product, the food, the water, etc. doesn't exist.
As I stated to RonaldRaygun, undermining the overal success of the human race as a species is NOT an acceptable substitue for expanding at the cost of resources. If that was the case, we would have never left Africa.
As Arcade Gannon once pointed out: when people get medical help, they live longer, when they live longer, the more medical help they need. And thus we need more resources. While having less children helps it doesn't solve the problem, it merely delays the negative outcome
Better education means more people taking basic steps to ensure good health. That usually comes with going to the doctor and having a medical service. Thats great, as long as we have the resources to sustain everyone going to the doctor. Problem is that we don't.

I disagree Kal, revenge is the only way. Space has raped too many cats. However the only way for vengeance is to rape space and it's planets!