> They lacked the ability to see how colonization would provide jobs and reduce crime by allowing people that don't fit well in society an outlet like the US had with its Western frontier.
I’m not sure that criminals and other social misfits would be welcome in space exploration / colonization. Space is a harsh environment that requires cooperative behavior just to stay alive. Colonization occurred in places where there was oxygen, food and water. The main skills needed were very basic survival skills, and a willingness to murder the non-European (and sometimes European) locals that got in the way.
We are a long way away from the point where we could tolerate a showdown at high noon in space, though that might make for a profitable summer blockbuster.
The prior poster was explicitly talking about reducing crime by exporting criminals. That’s not a cheap way to execute “undesirable” people, and if they aren’t killed on the way up, we end up with people who are not a great fit for the demands of living in space, however willing prisoners may be to go.
I hope we can find a more humane way to deal with our troubled fellow humans than to send them on suicide missions.
I’m not sure that criminals and other social misfits would be welcome in space exploration / colonization. Space is a harsh environment that requires cooperative behavior just to stay alive. Colonization occurred in places where there was oxygen, food and water. The main skills needed were very basic survival skills, and a willingness to murder the non-European (and sometimes European) locals that got in the way.
We are a long way away from the point where we could tolerate a showdown at high noon in space, though that might make for a profitable summer blockbuster.