I think there's a clear argument against this. Let's assume people were both aware of, and believed, that e.g. SpaceX would achieve its goals. The immediate, an

I think there's a clear argument against this. Let's assume people were both aware of, and believed, that e.g. SpaceX would achieve its goals. The immediate, and monumental, benefit there is quite self evident. Starting a new civilization would be akin to having something like expanding into a western frontier that never ended. Of course there will be immense room for scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers of all sorts, physicists, computer scientists, and the like. But you'll also need everything from janitors to system administrators to athletes in the longrun. Imagine the potential for 1/3rd g sports -- livestreamed (at the speed of light) from another planet. Even 'small' things like asteroid mining will signal the end of any sort of significant mineral scarcity on Earth and will almost certainly lead directly to the construction of sophisticated development and construction facilities in space to more efficiently utilize these resources. Again, think about the vast numbers of people and opportunities available there. And of course this is all just scratching the surface in the most superficial way possible. Yet we're talking about a practically limitless number of new jobs and opportunities for people of all sorts of backgrounds. Of course most people don't think any of this will happen. And given that I'm certain similar statements were put forth following the moon landing, it's not entirely illogical to suggest this is all pie in the sky. But I think most people aren't even to the point of knowing what's actually happening, let alone deciding one way or another what will happen in the future.