Re: Colonization

>Point 2:
>Space travel has to be very cheap to be viable for population
relocation in
>all but the very civilized countries. Why? Because a 0.0002
cent shot from a
>blaster is just as effective at dealing with one overpopulee as
is shipping
>him to West BF. It's awful, but as human life overruns this
planet, I rather
>suspect we'll see the decline in the value of a single life.

I have heard that street kids are already being "liquidated" in
some cities.  Hearsay only, but I'm afraid it wouldn't really
surprise me.

  I'll snip the rest of this post to try to steer back on topic.
Yeah, okay, I might think twice about it (although not for any
of the reasons you mentioned--in fact the education issue--no,
I'd better not get started on that), but historically some
people have always been willing to head for the frontier.
   What I was primarily trying to point out is that there is an
assumption, often stated, that "space travel is expensive."
I'm trying to point out that that assumption is unfounded.
Sure, at first space travel is in the realm of big governments
and huge corporations, but as long as it's possible, it will
become more efficient; as it becomes more efficient and thus
cheaper, more people will be able to go (unless artificially
restricted by legal issues).  Yes, it will probably take a pull
as well as a push, but the pull doesn't have to be a
dollars-and-cents motive.
   Besides, if we stick to the "travel is horribly expensive and
it takes an $11 billion bottle of wine to justify it" theory,
it's going to severly limit our ability to play with little
metal spaceships.