Explorer to Queen Izzabella (or whomever): "We'd like to sail west and find a shortcut to the Indies." Queenie: "Sorry. We've got poverty and people who are hu

Explorer to Queen Izzabella (or whomever): "We'd like to sail west and find a shortcut to the Indies." Queenie: "Sorry. We've got poverty and people who are hungry here, you'll have to wait." (400 years later) Descendant of that Explorer: "Can we go now?" Queenie: "Sorry, still haven't solved that poverty stuff. Go do some farming or something." ---- A lot of the "poverty and hunger stuff" is caused by corruption and unworkable politics and ideologies. Another big factor is simple human nature. "The poor will be with us always." It's a wicked problem that will probably never go away. We shouldn't use it as an excuse. (I would be quite happy trading military and secret-police spending, which is basically out of control). Oh, we can try to address poverty. But putting everything else on hold doesn't make sense. A rising tide floats all boats; more resources and better technology will help everyone, at least a little. [I'm actually not a big fan of manned exploration any more; it's expensive, and robots can do way better than we can, for the foreseeable future. Oh, putting men on other planets has undeniable poetry and significance, but if you want to do science or mining or whatever, you're better off with metal than monkeys].