There's also no small mention of how asteroids are flying goldmines.

Quite true. One moderately sized asteroid contains more nickle and more iron that has ever been mined on Earth - ever, in the history of our planet. Most of the world's nickle comes from a site in Canada where an asteroid hit. Most of our iron comes from banded iron formations and to get at them, we dig giant open pits that we can never refill and that eventually become toxic to the environment.

Imagine a future where mining on Earth was illegal. Imagine a future where the Earth is like a nature preserve where people live or go on vacation, where all of our destructive and polluting industry, power generation, and resource collection happens in space. All of that is possible, but we wont do it because we'd rather spend money on short-term problems (like health care for example, but also wars).

Space is to our generation what Europe was to the first humans. They stood on the north coast of Africa and could just barely see that there was another world out there. But they had other problems. They were always hungry, they were being eaten by lions. I'm sure some people said, "whoa whoa whoa you want to try and swim over to Europe? No way! We have to solve ALL of our problems here in Africa first. We need to invest in domesticating zebras and concentrate on trying to grow crops here in the desert. Then, when we've got all that worked out, then you can go to Europe." But see, that's just short-sighted. If you go to Europe all of those problems take care of themsevles eventually. You find better land for crops, a better environment, better animals for domestication.

If we really commit ourselves to space, we'll find that the benefits of doing that solve most of the problems that we use today as excuses to not go into space. The reason is simple: more resources, more riches, will benefit everyone - sometimes in ways that we can't even imagine. You're sitting, wherever you're sitting, in a nice air conditioned room. All of the technology and infrastructure that insulates you from the heat outside is made possible by the resource, "oil" that flows into your economy. The first person to discover coal or oil couldn't have imagined air conditioning or the internet or synthetic fertilizer, just like we can't imagine how the "gold mine" as you put it, in space, will change our future.

But alas, we wont do it because people are too shortsighted.

"There is a galactic market for maybe five supernovae."

"Your supernova is powerful and well-formed, but in order to earn anything better than a C from me, it must be feasible"

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Hypothesis: "less pleasurable" is not real, but imagined.
Prediction: A person who does not know if he is wearing a condom cannot feel that he is or is not wearing one.
Test: Can you tell if a condom breaks? Answer: yes. I've had several break (it happens in cold climates if you're dumb enough to leave your wallet in the car)

Result: your claim is rejected. "less pleasurable" *is* real.

Completely irrelevant.

Logical fallacy: Poisoning the Well.

Another logical fallacy: Affirming the Consequent, but I'll address it anyway. You're saying that the real reason people don't buy condoms is not that they have a legitimate reason for disliking them, but simply that they're embarrassed. I don't know if you're posting through a time machine from 1970, but in 2009 there are two kinds of people, those who realize it's no big deal to buy condoms, and those who can use the internet to buy them from drugstore.com.

Your opinions are based on either irrelevant facts, fallacious logic, or are outright wrong, as I have demonstrated.

wow, you just proved mewsenews' point. You've never worn a condom. If you had, you would know that the problem isn't that they're too tight. The problem is the (lack of) feeling.

For one-night-stands where you need to protect yourself against STDs, people will keep using condoms. But in a steady relationship, condoms are horrible, and you're gong to want an alternative. Some women's bodies can't handle the pill (or maybe you just want to take responsibility yourself) in which case, this shot will be a god-send. You'll be able to enjoy sex without having children.

and when I say, "you" I mean someone else.

I notice this a lot. Journalists can't take the time to learn about technology, and it shows in their writing. I often wonder if doctors feel the same way when watching Dr. shows on TV.

Gattaca was supposed to show us a dark future. It was supposed to be a cautionary tale. The message was, "if your DNA isn't good enough, you'll have to make do banging Uma Thermon - poor you."

I don't think the producers thought their cunning plan all the way through.

Your logic is impeccable. There are some new ideas that didn't work, therefore we shouldn't try any idea that looks hard.

2008 -

2000 - if we listen to people like you with your unrealistic "wikipedia" pipe dreams, we'll never have the resources to print enough encyclopedia britannicas for everyone!

1980 - if we listen to people like you with your unrealistic "internet" dreams, we'll never have the resources to put mainframe computers in every house.

1950 - if we listen to people like you, with your unrealistic "satellite" dreams, we'll never have the resources to implement global communications.

1930 - if we listen to people like you, with your unrealistic "offshore oil well" dreams, we'll never have the resources mine the coal we need for our steam engines. Just stop and think about how obviously dangerous, expensive, and stupid it is to try and get oil out of the north sea! You're crazy!

1850 - if we listen to people like you, with your unrealistic "fossil fuel oil well" dreams, we'll never have the resources to hunt the endless supply of sperm wales.

1800 - if we listen to people like you, with your unrealistic "transcontinental railroad" dreams...

1450 - if we listen to people like you, with your unrealistic "sea route to asia" dreams...

4000 bc - if we listen to people like you, with your unrealistic "riding a horse" dreams...

10,000 bc - if we listen to people like you, with your unrealistic "farming" dreams...

60,000 bc - if we listen to people like you, with your unrealistic "leaving africa" dreams...

1,000,000 bc - Ogg not listen stupid "fire" dreams. Rocks hard. Rocks not make fire. Ogg more important things think about, like get food/stay warm.

Why haven't you gone extinct yet? It must be that your ancestors learned to parasite themselves on people that actually do things. Plus, just stop and think about how silly this is:

Yes, because there's only one solar panel in the whole world, and if we shoot it into space that's it, it's gone, and we can't build a second one for use on Earth. Whoa, better not drop it, since it's the only one we've got.

It couldn't possibly be that investing in either earth-based or space-based power will end up benefiting the other field. No no, that makes too much sense.

This is a case where you have to get the infrastructure in place first, then it becomes useful/profitable. It's like the internet. Once it was in place, it turns out that (in addition to porn) there is all this wonderful, world-changing stuff that we do with it. People's lives really are better because of the internet.

But nobody could have envisioned any of this. And if people like you had poured cold water on the whole thing by saying, "whoa whoa, before you start running cables everywhere, I want to see a long-term plan showing that this is profitable" then we'd NEVER have the internet.

Now let me paint a picture for you of an alternate historical timeline. The most powerful rocket in history was designed 50 years ago. Had we continued development along those lines, then today we'd have the ability to loft complete solar power stations into orbit. And then, suddenly, space solar power might make sense. But because of people like you, we don't have that capability. And so, because of people like you, whenever someone talks about space solar power, they are talking about multiple launches to get a small array working - and because of people like you, it doesn't make economic sense.

And if we continue listening to people like you, our grandchildren will be having this same conversation in 50 years - only they'll be trying to decide if they should use the last few drops of fossil fuels on planet Earth to fund this, or to make a bit more fertilizer to stave off global starvation for a few more years.

So let me just say, on behalf of all the people who will die because of closed-minded, backwards-thinking people like you, thanks for nothing.