but the point stands... it doesn't matter if WE benefit. it is enough that it will benefit future generations. Imagine if the Emperor who set out to build the Great Wall of China figured "why bother, I'll be dead by the time it is completed"?
> it is enough that it will benefit future generations.
Sadly, too few people grasp that. The same econuts who scream about the tiny amonut of plutonium on Cassini don't seem to realize that successful planetary colonization means that every form of life we take with us an establish will be basically made immortal.
Once we start farming the Kuiper Belt, damn near nothing short of the galaxy exploding will threaten humanity.