Comment by dbdr

> Do you prefer that we not even try to spread beyond our one planet, when an entire galaxy, or maybe even the neighboring ones, might be in reach if we try? What if someday at the very end of the lifetime of our sun and similar stars, we look back, and regret not trying?

The timeline you are speaking of is in billions of year. Yes, in that timescale, it definitely makes sense to try.

This very century, there are very serious scientific concerns about the continued comfortable habitability of Earth and the ensuing geopolitical instability caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the sixth mass extinction event, etc. We have solutions to mitigate those to some degree, but this requires very significant resource allocation to that goal, and so far it seems possible that we would fall short.

I don't think there should be zero resources allocated to space exploration, but it's at least reasonable to question whether we have our priorities set right.