I always considered this a fairly cheap sentiment. Sorry, even if the 'ride' is an illusion I still need to clothe, feed, protect, etc myself. At the end of the

I always considered this a fairly cheap sentiment. Sorry, even if the 'ride' is an illusion I still need to clothe, feed, protect, etc myself. At the end of the day everyone does and there are limited resources in the world - thus competition. We tried communism, and it led to even more massive inequality than capitalism but also somehow put millions into deathcamps and gulags. >Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world Drop your military spending and Putin will take more of your lands. Or North Korea will finally invade as they keep promising. Or ISIS will march in and smash up your museums and rape your women. Its childish to dismiss game theory when it comes to the taking of land. >and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace. Space is like rapture for geeks. What space exactly? Terraform a planet? Good, now you have the exact same problems you have here except less natural resources, so expect even more competition for scarce resources. You won't escape your problems, you'll just make them worse. The first space colony won't be utopia, it'll be a wild-west nightmare of lawlessness and conflict.