You are correct, I have no right to expect anybody else to pay for it. Perhaps it is a concern on my part that someday some madman from Iran or somewhere equally evil is going to turn the world into a radioactive ash heap. People living off world would ensure that civilization would continue.
I’m not very worried about Iran, at least until they’ve developed their rocket-powered camels.
As for “civilization,” it did have a pretty good start, but what there is now is probably not worth preserving. Not sure human beings doing to the rest of the universe what they’ve done here is such a hot idea.
Nobody can predict the future. In “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,” the very nature of life on the moon “civilized” some very uncivilized people. They only threw rocks to defend themselves.
Nevertheless, I believe the day will come when some humans have fully developed their human potential as independent individualists, and will be the ones who do begin true space exploration, and then eventually, migration. I do not think you or I will see it, even if you are 50 years younger than I.
Hank
Certainly the technical side of civilization would have to be maintained for people to survive in space. Otherwise you die. As for Individual rights I think it will be like the West was, a place where rugged individuals move out when things start getting too crowded. By the time the solar system is too crowded people will be ready to move out to the stars.
Sounds like you have a dim view of humanity. I think otherwise. Life up until people moved information in the form of genes. People move information with ideas making People the second level of evolution. Life moved onto land 400 million years ago and I consider myself lucky to live through a time when life from Earth is now ready to move on to other worlds.