Sure, it doesn't need to be all or nothing. The point is to grab perspective about how achievable these goals are, using money that's being wasted in such larg

Sure, it doesn't need to be all or nothing. The point is to grab perspective about how achievable these goals are, using money that's being wasted in such large supply right now on tools to kill people. If we found strong evidence of life existing on another exoplanet (due to finding oxygen in the emission spectrum of an exoplanet's atmosphere), it would be a game changer. A story of the year, and influence the outcome of the rest of our century. It would compel, very likely spending on space probes and exploration to go way back up to levels seen in the 1960's or even higher. That was a time when we had both robust spending on space exploration and social programs...